The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) announces changes to the state’s commercial driver license (CDL) testing process. Effective Monday, June 1, all Texas CDL and commercial learner permit (CLP) knowledge examinations will be administered in English only.
This change aligns Texas’ testing procedures with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) English language proficiency requirements and will help ensure that all newly licensed commercial drivers have the communication skills necessary to operate these vehicles safely on Texas roads.
Previously, CDL knowledge tests were offered in both English and Spanish. The hands-on CDL skills test, which includes pre-trip inspection, basic control skills and the road test, has always been conducted in English only.
Applicants scheduled for CDL/CLP knowledge testing on or after June 1, 2026, should be prepared to complete all written and automated knowledge exams in English. Interpreters for these exams are prohibited.Updated study materials for these exams, as well as the Texas Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver’s Handbook, are available to applicants free of charge on the DPS website, here.
DPS personnel on Texas roads, along with other certified commercial vehicle inspectors, will continue to conduct English language proficiency evaluations during routine traffic stops and at weigh stations. These evaluations are a critical measure to ensure drivers possess the necessary communication skills for on-road safety and compliance with federal regulations, and any commercial vehicle driver who does not meet the proficiency standard will be placed out of service.
All these actions, and others like them, are part of the department’s continued efforts to make roads safer across the state and nation.
Racism is hateful. Our white supremacist felon president is responsible for this. It’s very easy to communicate these days with anyone who doesn’t speak English. I’ve done it many times with a language translator app. I’ve spoken clearly with people of different cultures and different languages. This hateful law will eliminate many of our truck drivers. Very stupid considering the severe driver shortage this country faces. Luckily after the midterms the cult will no longer have any power and some of these hateful policies can be reversed. Hate and racism are not American values. That’s all this is about. White supremacy. People of color are less in their minds.
Wow.. what country do we live in again and how many immigrants learned to speak English and be proud to!! Emigrate to a country that wants you and whatever language you want as a national language!
Sj is a dumb shit. Come to the US and assimilate instead of bringing third world ignorance. I highly doubt non English speaking truck drivers have time to Google translate a traffic sign or their federally required ELD entries. You must want to get plowed down by a primitive beaner in a dump truck.
SJ- English proficiency has been required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act for decades. It’s not “Trump’s fault” as you claim. We are simply enforcing an existing law for good reason… do you not think a driver should be able to comprehend Hazmat emergency instructions on his manifest?
I wouldn’t expect anything less from a liberal who has no idea what they are talking about to post their opinion as fact.
Yall sure are quick to disregard the very laws that make this country safe and desirable, yet leave lawless shitholes to come here and enjoy the cilivility of the US.
Deport sj! She would be at Jim Adler’s office the next day after an Illegal Invader hits her.
SJ surely has never driven a tractor trailer rig. I drove for over 40 years and I can honestly say that if you can’t read, write and speak the English language then you have absolutely no business driving even a car much less a semi truck. Your ability to operate the vehicle isn’t the problem — it’s the inability to read the millions of road signs, the inability to read your manifest and know if the load is a Hazmat load and what steps you must take if an accident occurs. There just isn’t any place on the road that needs someone who cannot understand the English language. As for this so called shortage of truck drivers, that’s a crock of shit. Call every trucking company in a 100 mile radius and I bet not a single one is short of drivers. So I guess Sj just don’t care , she just wants to be a liberal Karen and sprout off at the mouth about a subject she knows absolutely nothing about.