English-Speaking Trucker Enforcement Intensifies As Hageman Brings Bill

The trend toward tougher enforcement of English-language requirements for commercial truck drivers intensified Thursday when Wyoming’s U.S. House representative introduced a bill to make it a federal law.

Longstanding federal rules already say commercial truck drivers must speak enough English to read road signs, converse with the general public and keep their logs.

A 2016 Obama-era Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration memorandum eroded those rules by instructing highway truck inspectors not to pull non-English-speaking truck drivers off the roads.

President Donald Trump in April ordered his Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to rescind that rule, and Duffy did last week.

Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, pushed for a more permanent enforcement mechanism Thursday by unveiling a bill she co-authored with Rep. Dave Taylor, R-Ohio.

If it becomes law, the bill would revoke commercial driver’s licenses from drivers who fail to adhere to language proficiency requirements.

In announcing the bill, Hageman referenced a 2017 crash in which a distracted, non-English-speaking truck driver killed an 18-year-old man, Connor Dzion.

The bill’s title is “Connor’s Law.”

"Requiring truck drivers to be proficient in reading and speaking the English language is just common sense,” said Hageman in a Thursday statement. “Driving some of the biggest rigs on our highway systems, often in inclement weather, creates risk enough, but this liability is exacerbated when truck drivers can neither read our highway signs nor clearly communicate with others on the road, thereby putting everyone in danger. 

“I've heard from our trucking community and law enforcement officers alike emphasizing the need for this legislation, so today I am proud to join Congressman Taylor in its introduction."

The Resistance, The Reaction

A Change.org petition featuring comments by truckers who dispute Trump’s action has amassed 7,467 signatures. It asks for more uniform standards for enforcing English-language requirements and to remove discretion from road inspectors listening to potentially strong accents.

It also asks for English language training for truckers who need help.

As for Wyoming trucking companies, a few contacted Thursday by Cowboy State Daily either said they favor Hageman’s action, or it doesn’t affect them directly.

“I say it helps,” said Jack Kuhbacher of Gillette-based Kuhbacher Trucking Inc. “Makes everybody safer.”

Kuhbacher’s company still uses CB radios, which is a waning practice among some. Particularly in northeast Wyoming, it’s important to be able to warn other truckers of wide loads approaching and other hazards, he said.

Kuhbacher said people who speak different languages are often “good people,” but having a unifying language on U.S. roads is an important safety measure.

Lynette McClure, secretary of Worland-based Swing Trucking, said the rule doesn’t harm her company’s personnel. The drivers are locals and have worked for Swing for between 10 and 40 years. 

Swing also doesn’t do as much over-the-road driving as other companies, she added.

Letting all the other drivers on the road operate without being able to read the signs would be a “hazard,” she said.

At Riverton-based Osborne Trucking, co-owner Mike Osborne said enforcement of the rule doesn’t affect his company “today,” though it could shake up the market as it progresses.

“We’re kind of neutral,” said Osborne. His drivers are locals with short, recurring routes who are generally “home every night,” he said.   

Some companies send their drivers out for one or more nights, and that’s a job that fewer and fewer Americans are willing to do, he said.

And if those companies have invested in equipment, they may be “desperate” to put just anyone behind the wheel and hope for the best, Osborne added.

“It’s been like this a long time, the last 15 years or more,” he said. “Take a trip down I-80 in Wyoming. Construction signs will say ‘slow down;’ they (the drivers) don’t slow down. They just go.”

If other companies can’t hire foreign drivers, they may boost their wage offerings to fill the void, Osborne reasoned. And then, he’ll have to compete with that.

Also, Osborne noted in a playful tone, he’s hiring: “If you think you want a truck driving job, you put your application here.”

Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.