The U.S. Department of Transportation is auditing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s oversight of state agencies to ensure English language proficiency requirements are being met during testing for a commercial driver’s license.
The audit notice was issued Friday, Sept. 19 by Tiffany Mostert, the DOT's assistant inspector general for surface transportation audits.
The memo announcing the audit and titled "FMCSA’s Oversight of State Commercial Driver's License Knowledge and Skills Testing Programs" comes in the wake of a tractor-trailer accident in Florida in which claimed the lives of three people and called into question's the trucker's English language skills. The driver, who the federal government said was in the country illegally, had received CDLs from both Washington and California.
Since then, the DOT has taken several steps to more strictly enforce a language proficiency regulation for truckers.
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The announcement of the audit in part said:
"According to FMCSA, operating a commercial motor vehicle necessitates a higher level of knowledge, experience, skills, and physical abilities than a noncommercial vehicle. To obtain a CDL, applicants must show they are qualified to operate a commercial vehicle by passing both a knowledge test and a skills test, the latter of which must be administered in English per Federal regulation. These tests are performed by either a State Driver’s Licensing Agency (SDLA) or Stateapproved third-party testers and examiners. As part of its oversight, FMCSA is responsible for verifying SDLAs’ compliance with regulations regarding knowledge and skills testing.
"Given the importance of the CDL program in helping ensure the safety of the nation’s roadways, we are initiating this audit. Our objective is to assess FMCSA’s oversight of States’ CDL program compliance with regulatory requirements related to CDL knowledge and skills tests. We plan to begin the audit in the coming weeks and will contact your audit liaison to schedule an entrance conference. We will conduct our work at FMCSA Headquarters in Washington, DC, as well as FMCSA Division Offices and State locations, as necessary."
