Duffy moves to codify English proficiency rules for truckers

EXCLUSIVE — The Transportation Department has proposed a new rule to codify English-language proficiency requirements for American truckers, as Secretary Sean Duffy looks to ensure that current language safety standards last beyond the Trump administration.Under Duffy, the Trump administration has cracked down on making sure big-rig drivers are proficient in English before they hit the road and have to operate while reading English road signs. The administration’s stricter enforcement ramped up after several high-profile fatal crashes, including one on a Florida interstate, involved non-English proficient truckers driving in violation of nearby English road signs.In April 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring truck drivers to speak English. In response to the order, Duffy rescinded an Obama-era policy that loosened English proficiency restrictions by directing road inspectors not to place non-English speaking drivers out of service automatically, but instead to enable them to give non-English speaking drivers a citation. The proposed rule announced today would codify the federal standard requiring that non-English-proficient drivers be placed out of service. “Federal law is clear, drivers who can’t read or speak English—our national language—or understand road signs are unqualified to operate 80,000-pound big rigs on America’s highways,” Duffy said in a statement. “By making these commonsense English proficiency standards permanent, we are closing a dangerous loophole that has cost Americans their lives.”The rule would fall under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and would ensure that the out-of-service placement requirement endures through the Trump administration, curbing future presidential administrations from rolling back or relaxing the standard. It also sets the same work prohibition citation standard across all states and sets the same standard at the northern and southern borders for truckers crossing into the United States.FMCSA Administrator Derek D. Barrs said the proposed rule “ensures that roadside inspectors will always have the full force of federal regulation behind them” as they issue immediate out-of-service citations to truckers who are out of line with proficiency requirements.“When a driver can’t read a ‘Steep Grade,’ ‘Runaway Truck Ramp,’ or ‘Do Not Enter’ sign, people die,” Barrs said in a statement. “This rulemaking codifies commonsense safety into law.”The FMCSA has already issued out-of-service citations to over 26,000 commercially licensed drivers since the Trump administration began strictly cracking down on English-language requirements, according to Barrs.The agency will publish its notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register and allow the standard period of public comment consideration before publishing the final regulation. If finalized, the rule will be permanently added to the federal regulations code.DHS AND DOT BLITZ US HIGHWAYS, TAKE 766 UNSAFE TRUCK DRIVERS AND VEHICLES OFF THE ROADAlso under the Department of Transportation umbrella, the Federal Railroad Administration recently proposed a rule requiring English-language proficiency for train crews operating within the U.S.The standards surrounding English proficiency serve as safety measures but also fall in line with Trump’s executive order and policy aim of designating English as the U.S.’s national language.