At the Transport School in New Jersey, students maneuver 18 around road cones. Other future drivers look under the hoods to perform safety checks by telling steering wheel snakes for cracks and leaks.
The instructor slides between speech in Spanish and English when he teaches Manuel Castillo, a Spanish native speaker, how to check a school bus. They use the printed script of English phrases to practice what Castillo would say during a roadside inspection.
English fraud is urgently accepted for future and current truck drivers after US President Donald Trump issued an executive order, saying that drivers who do not read and speak in language would be considered inability to serve.
“A driver who cannot understand English will not drive a commercial vehicle in this country. Period,” said transport secretary Sean Duffy last month, announcing the guidelines for enforcement that appear on Wednesday.
The US Transport Department procedures have been updated to get improved inspections to determine whether commercial engine vehicle operators can answer questions and tips in English, as well as understand traffic signs on the highway and electronic forms of messages.
Croters who have learned English as a second language are feared that they can lose their jobs if they make a mistake or talk to a large accent during interrogation. Some worked on improving their liquidity in English, taking part in classes, reciting scripts and watching instructional videos.
“If this is not a language you prefer every day, you can get a little nervous and you can feel:” What if I say the wrong thing? ” – said Jerry Maldonado, president of the board of Laredo Motor Carriers Association, the Trade Association in Laredo in Texas, which represents about 200 transport companies.
“At the end of the day it will be an interpretation of the officer, so it annoys people.”
The guidelines applies to truck and bus drivers involved in inter -launch trade. The Transport Department, which aims to improve road safety after incidents, in which the inability of truck drivers to read characters or speak English could have contributed to the death of traffic.
English requirements are not new
The requirement for truck drivers to speak and read in English is not new, but the penalty for not meeting the standard of proficiency is becoming stronger.
To obtain a commercial driving license, candidates must pass a written test and be able to replace parts of the bus or truck in English when they check tire inflation, tread depth, nuts and coolant.
The changed policy reverses the guidelines issued nine years ago, at the end of the last term of the then President Barack Obama, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. In 2016, the agency said that drivers who lacked skill in English could receive a quote, but do not prohibit work. Earlier, the penalty was imposed on “status outside the service”.
“We have bridges that will be hit because drivers do not understand the signs on bridges for such things as resting height,” said Todd Spencer, president of the Association of Independence of the Owner of the Independent Drivers.
Exercising English phrases
In Laredo, a border city where many residents talk a mixture of English and Spanish, the Maldonado Association offers free English language classes on weekends to help drivers feel more confident in their ability to communicate.
“Everyone knows what the STOP sign looks like,” said Maldonado. “But if there is a construction or if there is five miles down the road, and they have to put a sign -” Caution, they must leave now, the road has been closed “and you are not able to read it or understand that this may be a safety problem.”
According to the founder Jonathan Marques at Academy in Linden, Linden, New Jersey, multilingual instructors teach students how to control the parts of the vehicle in their first language, and then explanations in English. He said that the school created scenarios so that students could practice what to say if they were detained.
Marques suggested that students should watch training films as home work, while licensed trucks can listen to the English language application instead of music when they are on their way.
Instructor Paul Cuartas helps students prepare, but he is worried that inspectors will now expect that bus and bus drivers will have excellent English. “I'm worried because it is more difficult for all Spaniards now,” he said.
Castillo, who moved to the USA from Ecuador in 1993, said that there is no problem with understanding English, but watches movies to study industry conditions. “Some words that I don't understand, but I try to teach more English,” he said.
Asked if he supported the president's ordinance, Castillo said he voted for Trump, but he did not agree with the president's pressure to deport some immigrants who did not commit crimes.
“He does many problems, especially for Latin people,” said Castillo.
GTR Trucking School in Detroit offered students ESL classes. Co -owner of Al Myftiu ran a truck after moving to the USA from Albania in 1993. He said he wanted to create a small book from phrases that trucks must learn.
For students with a dense accent: “I tell them:” slow down, speak slowly, and people can understand you, and if you don't understand something, you can ask, “said Myftiu.
How will it work
Roadside inspections can be initiated in terms of problems such as a defective brake light or routine light, and often take place at weighted stations.
The guidelines are managed by inspectors who suspect that the driver does not understand what they say to administer the test of proficiency in English, which includes both intelligence and a component of recognition of a traffic sign.
In the past, some drivers used applications for translation for communication with federal inspectors. The updated rules are the use of translators, smartphones, tip cards or other AIDS during interviews.
Several truck drivers take a break at Flying J Travel Center in New Jersey, said that they support Trump's order, adding that drivers who rely on translation programs would probably not be able to read important signs.
“We try to ask them questions about the company only to conduct a conversation … and they are not able to communicate with us at all,” said Kassa Elkhatib, one of the drivers in Flying J.
Fear of discrimination
It is not clear how security inspectors decide whether the driver knows enough English, because this part of the manual has been edited from guidelines distributed by the transport department.
The department informed car carriers so that drivers could answer questions about shipping documents, origin and destination of travel and how long they are on duty.
The Transport Department said that the service truck, and the company in which they work is responsible for ensuring the violation of the tongue before the driver went to the highway.
Według Mannirmala Kara, federalnego kierownika ds. Polityki Sikh Coalition, grupy rzecznictwa, grupy rzecznictwa, grupy rzecznictwa, grupy rzecznictwa, grupy rzecznictwa, grupy rzecznictwa, grupy rzecznictwa, grupy rzecznictwa, grupy rzecznictwa, grupy rzecznictwa, grupy rzecznictwa, grupy rzecznictwa, grupy rzecznictwa, grupy rzecznictwa, grupy rzecznictwa rzecznika grupy, grupy rzecznictwa, grupy rzeczników spokeswoman, truck drivers who practice the Sikh religion of the Sikh religion already feel discrimination in employment and loading docks and loading docks.
Now they are worried about subjective inspectors, non -standard arrangements, which of them are in English, she said.
“A truck driver who speaks English enough to follow federal standards, but maybe they talk to an accent, or maybe they use a different vocabulary, whose inspector is not used to: will this person be subject to violation of English?” Kaur asked.