At a recent press conference, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that in the future all CDL driving tests must be administered in English only. Duffy said that in California, an applicant may currently take the CDL test in 20 different languages. He stated that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration would begin a rulemaking to require the state driver licensing agencies to conduct CDL testing in English only as a safety measure.

This is the department’s latest step to upgrade the regulation of commercial vehicle drivers. Secretary Duffy also questioned the self-certification process for entry-level driver training schools. He claims many of these schools do not have an adequate curriculum for training, and some do not even have any trucks or buses on which to train drivers.

Further, the Secretary noted that many states allow third parties to conduct the CDL test, but the states do not adequately audit these testing services. DOT has recently closed or threatened to close 7000 entry-level driver training schools for fraud or lack of compliance with the regulations.

Duffy also said that DOT will crack down on individuals with multiple USDOT numbers, known as chameleon carriers. DOT intends to assure that DOT numbers are affiliated with a legitimate business. Duffy said the department will also increase enforcement of illegal use of Electronic Logging Devices by drivers.

At the same press conference, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Derrick Barrs noted several recent fatal truck crashes involving carriers who had changed USDOT numbers repeatedly to avoid regulation. He said FMCSA will enforce regulation of a carrier’s principal place of business as part of the DOT number, and the agency’s new Motus registration system will help to improve the vetting system for new carriers.

Barrs said FMCSA intends to end the self-certification process for entry-level driver training schools and adopt a third-party certification process similar to the approach used by Transport Canada.

Barrs also stated that FMCSA has withdrawn the certification of 42 ELD providers and had denied certification of 238 ELD applicants. He asserted that FMCSA will initiate a rulemaking to strengthen the ELD vetting requirements and reform the self-certification process.