On Thursday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed to reporters that 17,000 non-English-speaking truck drivers have been removed from the road due to new administration rules. However, ride-share services like Uber and Lyft, along with taxis, still contract non-English-speaking drivers. According to Duffy, that’s a trickier problem to solve.
“The problem is that our states are the ones that issue these licenses. So with commercial driver’s licenses, we do have some federal control,” Duffy said Thursday during a Cabinet meeting, emphasizing that the work the administration has been able to do with Commercial Drivers Licenses (CDLs) differs from what their abilities are with state-administered drivers’ licenses.
Duffy went on to explain the safety problems—drivers who can’t read signs or communicate with police—and criticized former President Joe Biden’s administration for letting truck-driving schools practically self-certify.
“This is like the ‘Learning Center’. You pay $800, you get a certificate that you passed a CDL driving school, and they have no skills. They haven’t gone through any of the testing, and then they get licenses, and they’re killing Americans on our roads.”
No federal control of rideshares
For CDLs, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) can audit, set minimum standards states must follow, and enforce safety rules nationwide for commercial trucks. Rideshare & taxis are treated as local services; therefore, the federal DOT (Department of Transportation) has almost no authority over driver licensing or day-to-day operations.
Even though states print and hand out the licenses, federal law, via the FMCSA, sets the minimum qualifications every state must follow. That includes the long-standing rule that commercial drivers must “speak and read English sufficiently” to understand road signs, talk to law enforcement, and handle emergencies.
The Trump/Duffy DOT used that federal leverage to identify and remove the 17,000 unqualified big-rig drivers (many of whom got CDLs through the previous administration’s lax “self-certifying” truck schools). States still have to cooperate on enforcement, which is why Duffy said he needs “partnership” (he even noted California Governor Gavin Newsom is starting to play ball).
Rideshare drivers, along with taxi drivers, do not need a CDL. They operate under ordinary state driver’s licenses plus whatever local ride-share or taxi permit the city/county requires (background checks, insurance, vehicle inspections, etc.).
There is no federal commercial licensing regime that applies the same way. Regulation is handled at the state or city level (e.g., California Public Utilities Commission for Uber/Lyft, NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission for cabs). The federal DOT can’t just “extend” the trucker rule because it doesn’t have jurisdiction over these local passenger services.
well theres plenty of illegal truck drivers right here in wicomico county, wtf is maryland dot doing about them?
The usual……….NOTHING!