Having traveled in Asia (Japan and China), I have some idea what it’s like to be in a place where I not only can’t speak the language, but I can’t read signage – including road signs. It’s a major challenge to be not only functionally illiterate in that country but also unable to even ask directions easily. It’s a disconcerting feeling.
Of course, I wasn’t driving a commercial truck. For years, Democrats in power have winked and looked the other way as people who can’t speak or read English operated commercial vehicles in the United States. That’s changing; on Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, on his official X account, announced that commercial drivers who can’t speak English will be taken out of service.
Secretary Duffy also described the action on Fox News:
Drivers of commercial vehicles who can’t speak our national language will be taken out of service. This is just common sense.
Drivers who can’t read our signs or communicate with law enforcement have no business being on our roads.
America First = Safety First! pic.twitter.com/ax68jlm1yH
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) July 8, 2025
Secretary Duffy said:
Well, all the road signs, but also if you get in a car crash, or are pulled over by law enforcement, you have to be able to communicate, you know, what you have on your truck, on your rig. Now, this is not a new rule, by the way. We’ve – the English-only requirement or English proficiency requirement has been on the books for a long time. It’s just that Barack Obama made sure that if you violated that rule, it was a slap on the wrist. We’re going back to the old rule that, we’re going to put your rig out of service and make sure that you don’t drive if you don’t speak the language. Again, this is just common sense. This is our language, English, if you’re going to get on the road with one of these potential dangerous vehicles, speak our language.
It is common sense, but as my Old Man used to say, the problem is that common sense… isn’t common.
See Also: Why an Official Language Matters
Trump to Sign Executive Order Ensuring Truckers Are Fluent in America’s Official Language—English
Now, the left will be quick to jump on this with shouts of “racism!” That’s a canard. For one thing, there’s no racial component in what languages one speaks. Many people of all races learn new languages routinely. In fact, it seems racist on the part of the left to imply that people from other ethnic groups in other parts of the world can’t be expected to learn to read and speak English if they are to live in the United States, where the language is English.
While there is a major safety issue where commercial trucks are concerned, this is an issue that goes well beyond that. Anyone engaged in any business that requires them to interact with customers or, indeed, anyone, in the United States, should be proficient in written and spoken English. Having a second language is great, but if you have one language and are living in the United States, that language should be English. If you can’t speak it, you should be learning it. We are an English-speaking nation. It’s as simple as that.
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