Transportation Monthly Round Up - May 2025
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) has taken emergency action to make violations of the English-language standard an out-of-service condition, effective June 25, 2025. The group took the emergency move to meet the president's 60-day deadline.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations state that a driver who is unable to sufficiently read or speak English or understand signs cannot operate a commercial vehicle, but the 2016 FMCSA enforcement directive ordered inspectors not to place drivers out of service for violating the language requirements.
In response, the U.S. Department of Transportation has issued a new enforcement policy aimed at ensuring commercial truck and bus drivers are able to read and speak English. The internal policy, issued May 20, 2025, is now in effect. It includes guidance for how roadside enforcement personnel should enforce the English language proficiency requirements in 49 CFR 391.11(b)(2).
The policy advises officers to begin all roadside inspections in English. If it seems the driver may not understand the officer’s initial instructions, the officer is directed to conduct a two-part assessment to evaluate the driver’s compliance with the English language standard.
The first step is a driver interview, though details of the interview process were redacted from the public version of the policy. The policy says drivers should not use tools to facilitate communication during the interview, such as interpreters or smart-phone applications.
The policy directs officers to cite drivers for a violation if they cannot pass the interview portion of the assessment.
Step two in the assessment is evaluating whether the driver can recognize common highway traffic signs. The policy contains images of signs officers can use for this part of the test, but those too are redacted from the public version of the policy.
Beginning on June 25th, officers will begin placing drivers out of service if they fail the English language proficiency testing.
Operation Safe Driver Week will run from July 13-19 this year, with a focus on reckless, careless, and dangerous driving. Officers in Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. will be looking out for commercial drivers’ unsafe driving habits.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) runs Operation Safe Driver Week every summer to help encourage safe driver practices and improve road safety for everyone. Law enforcement personnel are looking for:
- Speeding,
- Following too closely,
- Drunk driving,
- Drugged driving,
- Distracting driving, and
- Other unsafe driving habits.
That’s it for this month’s round up. Stay safe, and thanks for watching.