Trucking and Highway Safety Policy

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that all commercial driver’s license tests for truckers and bus drivers nationwide must now be taken in English, ending state options to offer exams in other languages as part of the Trump administration’s safety crackdown on the trucking industry. Duffy said the move is aimed at ensuring drivers can read U.S. road signs and communicate with law enforcement after fatal crashes involving drivers with questionable qualifications, including a Florida wreck he says was caused by a driver not authorized to be in the country and an Indiana crash that killed four people. The campaign also targets fraud in the licensing pipeline: DOT says 557 driving schools should be shut down for failing basic safety standards, and federal regulators are increasing spot checks on CDL schools and carriers while tightening the registration rules that have allowed so‑called 'chameleon carriers' to re‑incorporate under new names after crashes. Currently, many states allow CDL exams in multiple languages — California offers 20 — and some outsource testing to third‑party firms Duffy accuses of not enforcing English‑proficiency standards already on the books. The policy will likely spark legal and political fights over discrimination and language access even as highway‑safety advocates, insurers and parts of the trucking industry watch to see whether it meaningfully reduces crashes tied to unqualified or fraudulently licensed drivers.