Category Archives: Transportation

Executive Order Requires English Proficiency for Truck Drivers

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On April 28, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) to “Enforce Commonsense Rules of the Road For America’s Truck Drivers. The EO goes along with the Executive order declaring that English is the official language of the US. It calls for putting drivers with a lack of English language proficiency “out of service”. The bullets below are from a fact sheet linked below.

  • The Order directs the Secretary of Transportation to rescind guidance that watered down the law requiring English proficiency for commercial drivers.
  • It mandates revising out-of-service criteria to ensure drivers violating English proficiency rules are placed out-of-service, enhancing roadway safety.
  • It instructs the Secretary of Transportation to review state issuance of non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses to identify any irregularities and ensure American drivers are validly licensed and qualified.
  • The Order directs the Secretary of Transportation to carry out additional administrative, regulatory, or enforcement actions to improve the working conditions of America’s truck drivers.

The order reverses a 2016 Obama administration rule that ‘watered down’ the English Proficiency requirements for putting a driver ‘out of service’. The Order’s rule for ‘out of service’ criteria will take effect on June 25.

There are still a number of questions and in particular interest to our members are how do drivers with Licencia Federal de Conductor licenses here in the US legally under H-2A fare under this rule.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s board met late last week in an emergency session to overwhelmingly support this rule. The Alliance is made up of enfacement officials, state regulators, trucking companies and trade associations.

We will continue to follow this rule and help you navigate this issues this will raise this year.

Further Reading:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/04/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-enforces-commonsense-rules-of-the-road-for-americas-truck-drivers/

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trump-requiring-that-truckers-speak-and-read-english

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/cvsa-votes-to-put-truck-drivers-with-limited-english-out-of-service

DSF

Driver Training Now Required for CDL Drivers

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New regulations on CDL Drivers went into effect on February 7, 2022. The new rules require new CDL drivers to have gone through an Entry Level Driver Training course. The rules apply to anyone who is getting a Class A or Class B CDL for the first time, anyone upgrading from a Class B to a Class A or adding certain endorsements for the first time.

More information form DOT/FMCSA here: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/registration/commercial-drivers-license/entry-level-driver-training-eldt

The ELDT requirement dose NOT apply to drivers who are exempted from needing a CDL to begin with. Most states exempt farmers and farmer’s employees. For this definition, gins are not farmers. We are considered ag services. Certain operations are exempt such as hours of operation but not the requirement for a CDL.

Two states in the region (SC and GA) allow for the application of a Farm Related CDL Wavier. This is a ‘limited CDL’ and is Exempt from the ELDT requirements. Confused yet?

Unless you’re a farmer OR in a state that issues a FRSI CDL for Class B vehicles any new CDL driver must go through an ELDT. A list of in person and online providers of this training can found on this site: https://tpr.fmcsa.dot.gov

Give us a call if you have questions. More information on exemptions can be found in this document below.

Huge Settlement in Ag Traffic Accident

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We’ve said for years, one of the most dangerous (from a loss control standpoint) is hauling the crop from the field to the gin. We’ve said countless times that when you send your trucks out on the road you potentially are sending the assets of the company out with them. The article below illustrates that issue quite clearly.

It is EXTREMELY important that you make sure your drivers are not impaired either by way of substances or fatigue.

Clipped from Politico’s Ag News

SANDERSON FARMS PAYS $27.5M TO SETTLE TRUCK ACCIDENT SUIT: Sanderson Farms has agreed to pay $27.5 million to settle a lawsuit over a truck accident three years ago that injured a mother and her two young sons, the Waco Tribune reports. One of the children, who was 2 years old, suffered severe brain damage. The truck driver, Joshua Frank Perkins, was traveling 57 mph when he struck the woman’s car and knocked it into oncoming traffic. Perkins later told a girlfriend that he fell asleep at the wheel, according to the lawsuit. Records show he had worked long and irregular hours for the poultry processing company before the wreck. The case, which was in a state court, was settled after two mediation sessions. Attorney Jim Hering, who represented Sanderson Farms, is quoted as saying the company is looking forward to putting the lawsuit behind it. Read the Waco Tribune story here.