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March 17, 2008
DOT Makes Mockery of English Requirement for Mexican Truck Drivers
So much for government guarantees that Mexican truck drivers hauling freight into the USA be proficient in English:
Mexican truck drivers allowed to travel throughout the U.S. under a Bush administration demonstration project may not be proficient in English, despite Department of Transportation assurances to the contrary.
A brochure on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's website instructs Mexican truck drivers, "Did you know … You MUST be able to read and speak English to drive trucks in the United States."
Still, at the Senate Commerce Committee oversight hearing Tuesday, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters and DOT Inspector General Calvin L. Scovel III reluctantly admitted under intense questioning from Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., that Mexican drivers were being designated at the border as "proficient in English" even though they could explain U.S. traffic signs only in Spanish.
To get an idea of why the Mexican truck drivers are supposed to know English, check out this report on foreign bus drivers in Australia:
Non-English speaking drivers dominate the multi-million dollar inbound tourist market, which is increasingly being controlled by Chinese and Korean companies.
The situation has led the Office of Transport Safety Investigations (OTSI) demanding that all bus drivers take road knowledge tests in English. Foreign drivers currently can sit RTA tests in whatever language they chose.
The absurdity of the system was highlighted by the death of three Taiwanese tourists in 2005 when their driver, Hua Chen, lost control on a steep hill at Jamberoo, south of Wollongong.
Chen, a Chinese national who had been in Australia less than two months, could not read a sign warning the road was too steep for buses.
Though probably for the wrong reason (i.e., protectionism), Congress has been trying to put a stop to the Mexican trucker invasion. But for the Bush Administration, public safety comes far down the list below obliterating the border with Mexico.
On tips from Wiggins and Byron.
Posted by Van Helsing at March 17, 2008 9:44 AM
Comments
Why is the Bush Administration Mexico's b1tch? I don't want to sound like a conspiracy nut, but there has to be some behind-the-scenes agenda to explain why the Bush Administration is selling out to Mexico at every opportunity.
Posted by: V the K at March 17, 2008 9:58 AM
Explain to me what is to stop the drivers from just parking the truck somewhere and wondering off to explore their new north of the boarder welfare state/USA?
Posted by: Oiao at March 17, 2008 11:50 AM
"Lo Siento, Senor"
Heh.
Posted by: Nigel at March 17, 2008 11:57 AM
Van Helsing,
The roads of Europe are full of truck drivers from all the nationalities and all the languages of Europe.
Does USA have a problem with just 2 languages while in Europe with much more languages that problem does not exist?
Posted by: carlos at March 17, 2008 1:10 PM
"The roads of Europe are full of truck drivers from all the nationalities and all the languages of Europe.
Does USA have a problem with just 2 languages while in Europe with much more languages that problem does not exist? "
Europe's road sings are much less wordy than ours - when we visited Italy a few years back we had no trouble with the critical road signs (stop, speed limit, traffic control).
And most Europeans speak more than one language. That is (sadly) not the case in most of North America.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 17, 2008 1:35 PM
Most Europeans are multi-lingual. If a truck driver there get's pulled over or see's a warning of trouble ahead, the odds are pretty good he will know at least one language that will allow him to decypher what the trouble is. And another thing, Europe has been multicultural and multilingual for hundreds and hundreds of years. Even the UK has had different languages that have melled into one spoken language (English) over the centuries. When I was in the Netherlands, most people spoke Dutch, English, and French very well. In the West, learning a second language has never before been anything but optional, so we don't have as many bi-lingual people here. There are also differences between laws and standards that need to be addressed. These are the things that concern me for the safety of everyone on the roads, including the truckers.
With all due respect, I am just tossing in my thoughts and humble opinion.
Posted by: HoosierArmyMom at March 17, 2008 1:47 PM
THE Real Issue here is equipment maintenance.
Assume the driver, regardless of what language he/she (doubtful it is a She Mexican in this occupation) can read in.
There are legit safety concerns over the maintenance and reliability of the trucks and trailor's brakes and other failure of equipment issues also.
Not to mention, in Mexico, the Truck Driver is not restricted to so many hours on the road before a rest period, like in the US. So, they will just drive until they kill someone.
Posted by: Oiao at March 17, 2008 1:58 PM
The real issue is wages. Driving a truck is one of the diminishing number of careers in which an undereducated white male can make a decent wage and support a family. So, naturally, American workers making a decent wage have to be replaced by third worlders working slave wages.
Posted by: V the K at March 17, 2008 5:48 PM
And most Europeans speak more than one language. That is (sadly) not the case in most of North America.
Why "sadly"? Time and effort spent having to learn multiple languages is time and effort that can't be spent on something else. One of our strengths is that you can pick up a phone, and call anywhere from coast to coast, with the certainty anyone you called would share a common language. (Well, at least until fairly recently, anyway).
That only one language is necessary to be functionally literate in this country is an efficiency, not a handicap!
Posted by: Rob Banks at March 17, 2008 11:55 PM
"That only one language is necessary to be functionally literate in this country is an efficiency, not a handicap!"
Rob, I agree that is strength point when doing business in America. But... from a business perspective, due to the electronic age and light speed communications, we have gone global. I consider being bi-lingual or more to be an asset to an indidual in business, and for it to be a good idea for Americans to move away from the idea that it's not important to know any language but English. I was livid when "government voted down English as being the official language in the US" That was utter non-sense. And given my feeling about immigration (no one should be allowed to be here illegally), I refuse to learn Spanish, but have encouraged my son's to learn a second language. My older son in the Army needs to learn a second language to qualify to train for human intel. There are so many areas of employment that consider knowledge of a second language "an added plus". I still agree, part of any immigrant coming to this country should be that they learn to speak English and assimilate to our laws and customs.
Posted by: HoosierArmyMom at March 18, 2008 7:27 AM
Oh, and a good case in point about language, many of the East Indian contractors I have worked with have given me insight on language and India. I noticed that unlike the Vietnamese I have worked with before, when people from India are together in a group, they ALL speak English, unlike the Asian social groups so I asked a co-worker why. She told me that there are over 60 different dialects within India. She was from Bombay and spoke Hindi, but her lunch companions each spoke a different dialect all together and would not be able to understand each other, so they all spoke English to on another, all the time. I thought that was interesting and a good reason to stick to our guns and insist immigrants here learn English.
Posted by: HoosierArmyMom at March 18, 2008 7:35 AM
