Ron Leibman, chair of McCarter’s Transportation, Logistics & Supply Chain Management Practice, speaks with National Law Journal to discuss the promise of broad deregulation and the Trump administration’s goal to increase enforcement of English language requirements for truck drivers. Leibman said that Secretary Duffy released a list of 52 deregulatory actions across the agency, removing outdated and duplicative rules related to the commercial trucking industry, federal highways and traffic safety, and noted many of these actions were already in motion during the Biden administration.
Leibman said that enforcement of English language requirements should occur before drivers are issued licenses and not when already on the road. He said the law is difficult to enforce across the country since states enforce the language requirement to varying degrees.
Broad enforcement of the law “brings up issues of discrimination,” Leibman said. “There is a standard to be able to interpret traffic signs in the U.S. format,” Leibman said. “However, there is no [language] test I am aware of across the board be used by every police officer, every customs official—anyone who has a safety obligation.”