Roughly 20% of Canadian carriers responding to a Canadian Trucking Alliance survey expressed concern some of their drivers may struggle to demonstrate proficiency in English when enforcement is stepped up in the U.S. beginning June 25.

The industry was notified May 20 that the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) will begin placing drivers who are not deemed to be proficient in English out of service (OOS).

A recent CarriersEdge webinar titled Inside the U.S. Language Proficiency Requirements showed there remain many questions about the stepped-up enforcement and how it will be applied at roadside. CarriersEdge CEO Jane Jazrawy and co-owner Mark Murrell tried to shed some light on the looming changes and offered some advice on how to prepare drivers for the heightened enforcement.

Understand what the rule is…and what it isn’t

“Don’t panic,” was Jazrawy’s first line of advice. “There’s not much to this rule. When you break it down, it seems simple, but the implications are very complicated and chaotic.”

The general purpose of the rule, which she says has been on the books since as far back as at least 2005, is to ensure commercial truck drivers in the U.S. can engage with roadside enforcement officers in English and understand road signs that are in English.

However, an Obama-era memo stopped roadside enforcement officers from placing drivers who failed to demonstrate proficiency in the language out of service. Non-compliance was still considered a citation and subject to a fine.

So, it’s not a new rule. However, U.S. President Donald Trump passed an executive order in the spring that would bring back the out-of-service order for non-compliant drivers, and the CVSA followed with an amendment of its OOS criteria to do just that, beginning June 25.

Who will enforce the rule?

One webinar attendee suggested the heightened enforcement is already underway, as two of his company’s drivers have recently been turned back at the U.S. border due to their English language skills.

But Murrell noted that’s an altogether different issue – the CVSA will be charged with enforcing the English language requirements at roadside. This has raised concerns about how the rule will be interpreted and applied by the various CVSA enforcement personnel.

The U.S. Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration has issued heavily redacted guidance on how drivers are to be tested for English proficiency, but – for obvious reasons – the questions that drivers will be posed have not been shared. It also offered some advice for carriers on how to assess the English language skills of their drivers.

“CVSA is really concerned about having everybody [enforce] it in the same way and they spend a lot of time and energy trying to make sure everybody is doing everything the same way,” Jazrawy assured.

Since the CVSA is in charge of handling roadside enforcement, it will be its officers who will determine whether or not a driver is compliant. For starters, truck drivers will be expected to go through roadside inspection activities in English and to communicate with inspectors.

Drivers who struggle to do so could be given an English language test.

“No helpers,” said Murrell of cue cards or smartphone translation apps. “You’ve got to do it yourself.”

An oral test may be followed by a “sign” test, in which the CVSA officer will ask the driver to interpret – in English – a variety of road signs.

“They won’t be Stop signs,” Murrell said. He suggested searching Wikipedia for ‘U.S. highway signs,’ which reveals a number of more complicated signs that contain a considerable amount of text.

Certain exemptions will apply

Drivers who are hearing impaired will be exempt from the rule, Murrell said, noting such an exemption already existed. But don’t try playing that card without evidence, he advised.

“You have to already have the exemption,” he noted. “You can’t just claim at roadside, ‘Oh yeah, I’m hearing impaired’ and try to use that as an excuse. That won’t work.”

What does OOS mean?

Under the revisions, if a driver is determined to have inadequate English skills to safely do the job, they’ll be put out of service. While OOS defects involving equipment can be fixed on the spot and the driver free to leave, the same won’t be true of this infraction since it’s not realistic for a driver to suddenly become proficient while at roadside.

That said, Murrell also explained the driver won’t lose their licence or be forbidden from entering the U.S. in the future.

“It’s out of service. And it’s not an out-of-service that you can fix by changing a headlight or sending a mechanic out to replace the tires on a truck,” he said. “Until that driver can pass an English test, they really are out of service.”

That means the fleet involved will likely have to send another driver, who is proficient in English, to recover the truck, trailer and driver. As for the driver’s future employability, Murrell said “If their language is improved and they can pass a test, then they’re OK [to return to the U.S.]”

The carrier will be assigned CSA points (how many remains unknown) but the driver isn’t expected to be put into any kind of clearinghouse — as they would be for drug and alcohol violations — that would prevent them from operating in the future.

Jazrawy told webinar attendees to be sure the driver they send to recover the vehicle is adept at English, because the truck won’t be turned over to them without some communication with enforcement officers required, and in English.

Can a driver who’s been placed OOS be sent back to the U.S. again even without significant improvements in their English?

“Why would you chance it?” asked Murrell.

Any disputes will have to go through a formal dispute resolution process, Jazrawy added, which would take time.

Mistakes will be made

There’s some vagueness to the FMCSA guidance that Murrell said could lead to some confusion and learning on the fly for CVSA officers.

“There’s always going to be some enforcement person who does something differently – somebody who’s not as strict and somebody else who is way more strict,” he said.

He anticipates some unintended consequences will emerge when OOS enforcement begins, and such discrepancies will be addressed in future FMCSA guidance.

“I fully expect we’ll see CVSA having updated guidance a month, two months, three months after this goes into effect,” he suggested. “That happens with everything. You get it out into the field, they see what the reality is, then they have to update their guidance or issue some clarification.”

Prepare your drivers

Carriers are urged to identify drivers who may struggle to demonstrate English proficiency, and consider the risks involved in sending them to the U.S. Keep in mind, Murrell said, that a driver who’s being questioned at roadside by an enforcement officer is not likely to be at their best in demonstrating their English skills, due to nervousness.

For this reason, CarrriersEdge advised fleets to have a third party, unknown to the driver, conduct an assessment of their drivers’ English language skills.

“If you haven’t already done this, and you don’t know the scope of the problem, the first thing to do is find out ‘How many of my drivers don’t speak English well enough to do this?’” Jazrwawy suggested.

CarriersEdge is offering an audio English language test to its subscribers, but Jazrawy admits online learning isn’t the best way to assess language skills. One customer, she said, is now incorporating English language proficiency into its pre-employment screening process.

Once you’ve determined the scope of the challenge within your fleet, Murrell said companies should offer tools and training to help drivers improve their English skills. Language learning apps like Duolingo and Babbel are useful, he noted. But he added “There’s no course where you can sit down and spend an hour in front of a computer and learn English.”

Such apps will need to be supplemented with education involving industry-specific language. Jazrawy suggested one-on-one coaching and role-playing to fine-tune a driver’s grasp of industry-specific words and terminology.

“Pretend you’re an inspector and pull over the driver and interview them,” she advised. “Ask them for their documentation, ask them where things are, to find things in a binder, or ask them where they’re headed and where they plan to stop for the night. Have a conversation with the driver in English and see how they perform. And then you can show them some signs. Choose some of the signs that look more complicated and see how they do.”

Treat it like an oral exam, Murrell added. “You’ve got to stand there and talk and you’ve got to stand there and then speak back. Document your efforts.”

Jazrawy said such training will also instill confidence in drivers, so they’re less nervous when forced to prove their English proficiency to an enforcement officer. “Practice, practice, practice,” she advised.

Lastly, as with any exchange with enforcement personnel, “attitude makes a huge difference,” said Murrell. “Are you helpful, are you cooperative, do you have your act together? Does your truck look like a disaster zone or do you have everything in order, looking really nice? Are you making that officer’s day easier or worse? That’s going to make a big difference.”

Have you or your drivers been asked to prove their English proficiency in the U.S.? We want to hear about it. Email james@newcom.ca