Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the latest effort Friday to ensure that drivers understand English well enough to read road signs and communicate with law enforcement officers. Florida already started administering its tests in English.
Currently, many states allow drivers to take their license tests in other languages even though they are required to demonstrate English proficiency. California offered tests in 20 other languages. And Duffy said that a number of states have hired other companies to administer commercial driver's licenses tests, and those companies aren't enforcing the standards that drivers are supposed to meet.
“And the third party tester is participating in the scam because they are not adequately testing the people who went through a sham school,” Duffy said.
He said every American wants drivers who get behind the wheel of a big rig to be well-qualified to handle those vehicles.
The campaign will also now expand to go prevent fraudulent trucking companies from getting into the business while continuing to go after questionable schools and ensure states are complying with all the regulations for handing out commercial licenses.
Earlier this week, the Transportation Department said 557 driving schools should close because they failed to meet basic safety standards. And the department has been aggressively going after states that handed out commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants who shouldn’t have qualified for them ever since a fatal crash in August.
