Mexico Trucker Online

Leave it up to the opposition to take a minor point and run it up the pole until it becomes a major problem. Such is the case with the “English Proficiency Requirement” brought up by that silly little man, Byron Leslie Dorgan, in the Capitol Hill ambush of Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters. Let’s call him “Leslie”! That is such a manly and Senatorial sounding name!

CVSA Inspector guidelines state:

“In recognition of the three countries’ language differences, it is the responsibility of the driver and the motor carrier to be able to communicate in the country in which the driver/carrier is operating so that safety is not compromised. Driver is unable to communicate sufficiently to understand and respond to official inquiries and directions. Place driver out of service.”

So how do we determine the level of “proficiency” so that safety is not compromised? They leave that to the individual inspectors discretion.

What “Leslie” Dorgan tried to prevent Mary Peters from explaining about the English proficiency test is that the traffic control sign test is administered AFTER the primary English test in which the inspector asks questions in English to which the driver is expected to reply in kind.

Peters acknowledged that during border inspections, Mexican drivers are allowed to use any language that a U.S. inspector understands when answering questions to prove they recognize U.S. signs.

But she added that inspectors determine English proficiency through other questions, such as asking a driver’s name, what the truck is carrying and its destination.

“The inspector has a conversation with the driver,” Peters said.

Calvin L. Scovel III, the Transportation Department’s inspector general, told the panel that the road-sign quiz is “but one component of the English-language proficiency test.”

“This was one factor among others that the inspector could consider in determining whether a Mexican driver has English-language proficiency,” said Scovell

William Quade, associate administrator at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said Mexican truck drivers are not asked to identify signs until they have demonstrated English proficiency.

“Our thinking was they’ve already established that they can communicate in English, and at some point in time we need to get on with the inspections,” Quade said after the hearing. “So we allow the inspection to continue in whatever language is appropriate that both the inspector and the driver understand.”

That’s simple enough and the facts that SenatorLeslie Dorgan did not want entered into the record.

So who the hell cares if they answer in English, Spanish or Spanglish? The point is that they understand the questions being posed to them in English. This shows a certain proficiency in the language.

Ever been in Laredo and heard the American “Professional” truckers, many of them OOIDA members, harassing the Mexican drivers on the CB? Do you think they don’t understand what the drivers are saying about their mamas and the suggestions they are making about their sisters? Sure they do and that is why they respond in SPANISH! That is a form of English proficiency.

Traffic signs are universal, in shape and color. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to determine what they mean.

Like Secretary Peters, I too, have driven extensively in Mexico. My proficiency in speaking Spanish is laughable. I can read the language well and I have had absolutely no problem navigating the country whereever my wonderings take me. Common sense and logic.

But the opposition will continue to beat this horse like they beat their meat, until it’s dead or until each and every Mexican trucker who enters this country speaks perfect Oxford English, or until pigs fly.

And a little known factoid is that in Mexican schools, English is a required course from grade six on until graduation. It is not elective, it is required. People can comprehend when they want to but are embarrassed to speak it because of the fear of being made fun of. And there are no shortage of American drivers willing to make fun and ridicule them.

And consider the hundreds of thousands of Mexican tourists who legally visit this country each year. Most don’t speak English but are able to arrive at their destinations and return safely and without incident.

As Willy Shakesphere commented so many years ago when asked about the Mexican trucker, “Mucho a dodo about nada”!