Do truck drivers have to speak English? The English proficiency rule in 2026

Yes. Under 49 CFR 391.11(b)(2), a person may drive a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce only if he or she can read and speak English well enough to converse with the public, understand highway traffic signs and signals in English, respond to official inquiries, and make entries on reports and records. Since 25 June 2025 a driver who fails the roadside English assessment is placed out of service under the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria, and in August 2026 FMCSA proposed writing that out-of-service consequence into the regulations. Status checked on 27 September 2026.

This page sets out the rule, how inspectors apply it, the exception near the Mexican border, what the proposed rule would change, and how the requirement relates to CDL testing. Because enforcement policy on this rule has changed several times, check the date above and FMCSA’s current guidance.

The rule itself

391.11(a): a person shall not drive a CMV unless qualified, and a motor carrier shall not require or permit an unqualified person to drive. 391.11(b)(2) makes English one of the qualifications. The four abilities are separate, and each is part of the test:

1. converse with the general public;
2. understand highway traffic signs and signals in English;
3. respond to official inquiries, such as an officer’s questions at an inspection; and
4. make entries on reports and records, such as logs and inspection reports.

The requirement is not new. FMCSA’s August 2026 proposed rule traces it to the Interstate Commerce Commission’s first safety regulations in December 1936, effective 1 July 1937, which at first exempted drivers already in service; the ICC removed that exemption in 1939 (91 FR 51422).

Intrastate drivers

391.11 applies to interstate commerce. But every state that takes federal Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program funds, which the proposed rule says is currently all states, DC and the U.S. territories, must adopt compatible laws, and FMCSA notes that the compatible state requirements generally apply to intrastate CMV operations as well, including 391.11 (91 FR 51422, citing 49 CFR 350 subpart C). Check your state’s version for its exact scope.

How enforcement has changed

Sources: Executive Order 14286 (90 FR 18759) and the background section of FMCSA’s proposed rule (91 FR 51422).

What happens at an inspection

FMCSA’s proposed rule summarises the procedure in the May 2025 memo, which CVSA’s criteria adopted for state inspectors:

1. The inspector starts every roadside inspection in English.
2. If the first contact suggests the driver may not understand the inspector’s instructions, the inspector conducts an English proficiency assessment, which has two steps:
   • a driver interview, to see whether the driver can respond sufficiently to official inquiries; and
   • if the driver passes the interview, a highway traffic sign recognition assessment, to see whether the driver understands U.S. highway traffic signs, including electronic changeable message signs, in English.
3. A driver who cannot satisfy 391.11(b)(2) is cited and, outside the border-zone exception below, placed out of service.

The rules and the documents we reviewed do not publish a fixed list of interview questions or signs, so be wary of anything sold as "the official English proficiency test questions". What the assessment measures is the four abilities in the rule: ordinary conversation, answering an officer, reading signs, and filling in records.

What out of service means here

An out-of-service order stops the driver from driving; it does not by itself stop the truck, which another qualified driver may move. Driving while under an out-of-service order is a serious offense: a CDL holder convicted of it faces a civil penalty of at least $3,961 for a first conviction (49 CFR Part 386, Appendix B (b)(1)) and a disqualification of at least 180 days under 383.51 Table 4. The consequences are set out on the hours-of-service violations page. FMCSA’s April 2026 FAQs also address initiating action to disqualify a non-proficient driver from operating CMVs in interstate commerce; the proposed rule describes that as a follow-on action that is not taken under the border-zone exception.

The U.S.-Mexico border commercial zone exception

Under the April 2026 memo, inspectors in a U.S.-Mexico border commercial zone must first work out the scope of the driver’s current trip, using bills of lading, dispatch records, equipment interchange receipts, driver statements or other shipping documents:

• If the current trip would take the driver outside the border commercial zones in the United States, the driver is placed out of service for the English violation.
• If it would not, the driver is cited but not placed out of service, even if the cargo will later go beyond the zone with a different driver.

The exception does not apply where there is evidence the driver has operated, or intends to operate, beyond the zones, and a driver who benefits from it can still be placed out of service for any other out-of-service violation (91 FR 51422).

What the August 2026 proposed rule would change

The Out-of-Service Criteria are enforcement tolerances, not regulations. The proposed rule would put the consequence into the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations themselves (91 FR 51422, Docket FMCSA-2026-0826):

• add 391.11(b)(2) to the definition of out-of-service order in 390.5 and 390.5T;
• add a new 391.11(c)(1) stating that a driver who violates 391.11(b)(2) is placed out of service; and
• add a new 391.11(c)(2) for the border commercial zones, as designated in 49 CFR part 372 subpart B, unless there is evidence the driver has operated or intends to operate beyond them.

FMCSA says codifying the rule would require states to adopt a compatible requirement regardless of future changes to the CVSA criteria. It estimates the rule would cost motor carriers about $14.4 million a year. Until a final rule is published, the operative consequence at the roadside is the CVSA criterion plus FMCSA’s current guidance; the text of 391.11 in the eCFR as of 23 September 2026 still ends at paragraph (b)(7).

English and the CDL tests

The English qualification and the CDL tests are different rules, and they do not line up exactly.

• Knowledge tests. 383.133(b)(3) allows knowledge tests to be given in writing, orally or in automated form, and in a foreign language, provided no interpreter is used. That is the eCFR text as of 23 September 2026. A state may choose to offer English only.
• Skills test. 383.133(c)(5) prohibits interpreters during the skills test and requires the applicant to understand and respond to the examiner’s verbal commands and instructions in English. Neither applicant nor examiner may communicate in another language during the test.
• Passing is not the same as proficiency. A driver who passed a knowledge test in another language must still meet 391.11(b)(2) to drive in interstate commerce.

Practice material for the knowledge tests is in the CDL practice test, and the skills test is explained in the CDL skills test guide.

What the rule does not require

391.11(b)(2) sets a functional standard: English "sufficiently" for four tasks. It does not call for a language certificate, a course, a particular score, or the absence of an accent, and nothing in the rule requires a driver to speak only English on the job. A driver who talks to a dispatcher in another language, but can hold a conversation with the public, answer an officer, read the signs and fill in the log in English, meets the rule as written.

Drivers from Canada and Mexico

The requirement applies to everyone who drives a CMV in the United States, whatever the driver’s nationality or license. FMCSA’s proposed rule notes that Canada- and Mexico-domiciled drivers operating in the U.S. have been subject to the English rule since it was introduced in the 1930s, that the requirement applies equally to all drivers regardless of nationality, and that it is consistent with the USMCA and the reciprocity agreements on commercial licenses (91 FR 51422). The only different treatment is the border-zone exception above, which turns on the scope of the current trip, not on the driver’s nationality.

Drivers who cannot hear

FMCSA regulatory guidance from 2014 (79 FR 59139), which the proposed rule says remains in effect, provides that a driver granted an exemption from the hearing standard in 391.41(b)(11) is not unqualified under 391.11(b)(2) if he or she can read and write English, even without speaking it.

What carriers should do

Because 391.11(a) forbids a carrier to require or permit an unqualified person to drive, the English qualification is part of hiring. FMCSA published guidance on 22 May 2025 on how a motor carrier should assess a driver’s English proficiency during the driver qualification process (FMCSA-DQ-391.11-FAQ001, cited in 91 FR 51422). Steps that follow from the four abilities in the rule: hold the hiring interview and the road test in English, and check that the driver can read signs and fill in logs and inspection reports.

Worked example

Example, applying the April 2026 guidance. Two drivers are inspected at a port of entry in Texas, inside the border commercial zone. Driver A’s bill of lading shows delivery to a warehouse 8 miles away inside the zone; he cannot answer the officer’s questions in English. He is cited under 391.11(b)(2) but not placed out of service. Driver B’s dispatch record shows a delivery in Dallas. She understands the interview but cannot identify several warning signs, including a changeable message sign reading "LEFT LANE CLOSED AHEAD". She is cited and placed out of service, and may not continue the trip; her carrier must send a qualified driver.

Common mistakes

• Assuming a CDL proves English proficiency. A knowledge test may have been taken in another language (383.133(b)(3)).
• Relying on a passenger or dispatcher to translate at an inspection. The rule is about the driver’s own ability to respond to official inquiries.
• Ignoring signs. Sign recognition is a separate step in the assessment and includes electronic message signs.
• Driving on after being placed out of service. That turns a qualification problem into a disqualification.
• Relying on old articles. Enforcement changed in 2016, 2025 and 2026; check the date on anything you read, including this page.