Truckers applaud FMCSA’s proposal to add teeth to English-proficiency rule
Date: September 23, 2026, | Author: Mark Schremmer | Category: News
Truckers have been required to meet English-proficiency standards for decades. However, that requirement hasn’t always meant that violators were prevented from breaking the rule again.
Around 2014, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance stopped issuing out-of-service orders for English-proficiency violators. CVSA’s stance on the issue remained the same until 2025, when the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association submitted a petition.
Since out-of-service orders resumed, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said that more than 26,000 truck drivers had been taken off the road for failing English-language-proficiency tests.
FMCSA recently published a proposal that would make the decision to issue out-of-service orders to English-proficiency violators permanent.
Proposing an automatic out-of-service order demonstrates how strongly FMCSA believes in the link between safety and English skills, as only a few of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations mandate an out-of-service order for non-compliance.
“When a driver can’t read a ‘Steep Grade,’ ‘Runaway Truck Ramp,’ or ‘Do Not Enter’ sign, people die,” FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs said when the proposal was announced in August. “This rulemaking codifies commonsense safety into law. Since reinvigorating strict ELP checks, we have already pulled over 26,000 unqualified drivers off the road. This rule ensures that roadside inspectors will always have the full force of federal regulation behind them to issue immediate out-of-service orders whenever an unqualified driver is detected.
FMCSA is giving the public through Oct. 9 to comment on the proposal.
As of Sept. 22, more than 1,700 comments have been submitted. The majority of those comments support FMCSA’s proposal to place English-proficiency violators out of service.
“ELP is necessary for drivers to read public road signs and comply with instructions of enforcement officers,” Scott Methvin wrote. “The safety of the public depends on ELP because out-of-control or wrong-way trucks are a real public danger. Compliance with brake-check areas and snow chain use depends on ELP. Runaway truck ramp safety features along steep grades also depend on ELP.”
