Speak English - Safety

"Aviation English" as a standard has probably avoided dozens of accidents and saved thousands of lives. Maybe it'll help trucking, too. (I don't know for sure, I'm not an expert in transportation safety.) But, if it is a good idea, it should come with some supports -- "crash courses" for Hispanophone drivers, ramp-up period, etc. -- that are likely to be really cheap relative to a supply-chain disruption.

More broadly, the fact is that the ratio of Non-Hispanic-White to Hispanic-White in the US is now about the same as French-White-Canadian to Non-French-White-Canadian and still trending up. We're a bi-Euro-derived-cultural country now; horse has left the barn! This brings lots of benefits and opportunities, but also some challenges. Language issues like transportation safety are among the challenges... I don't know that "Big Rig English" is the solution, but if it is, this seems like a needlessly disruptive way to get there.

 

The really funny thing is my niece Carla has been married to the guy and living in England for about 20 years. When they come back to the states visiting she has picked up a bit of the British accent. I think she does it on purpose, I'm sure she has changed the way she talks because they have just as tough a time understanding her as we do them.

 

The concept of a proper country is excellently portrayed in this quote from Enoch Powell, I just substituted "America" for where he referred to England:

“America is the country of the American… America is the stage on which the drama of American history was played and the setting within which [] Americans became conscious of themselves as a people … when politicians and preachers attempt to frighten and cajole [] Americans into pretending away the distinction between themselves and people of other nations and other origins, they are engaged in undermining the foundation upon which democratic government by consent and peaceable civilized society in this country are supported ... ."

 

Having worked in the trucking industry years back - drivers are always hard to come by. Cracking down on this will only make it worse.

Im less concerned about English proficiency and more concerned about their actual skills as a driver.

 

Since when does a truck driver that does not speak English make anything easier in the United States?

 

Perhaps he is a far superior truck driver to the other people who wanted to drive that truck. He was hired for some reason over other applicants. That is the point: a totally homogeneous society would have plumbers trying to come up with cancer treatments or oncologists trying to fix the pipes at your house. Heterogeneity is not a weakness of a country. In fact, as the world becomes more complex and based on specialization, it becomes more and more necessary.

 

Homogenous for the purposes of this thread was English speaking, but since you brought it up, is there anything wrong with White English speakers? Unfortunately for America, the post WWII generation sent us down a course of disregarding and being actively hostile to civic nationalism.

 

Your reflexive defensiveness tells me I was on the mark with my statement, so thanks.

 

There’s a vast difference between the two industries though. ATCs/pilots have to communicate ideas through radio waves under tight non-negotiable timelines. That isn’t required in trucking. Having worked with the industry first hand, language was far down the list of issues that need improvement for safety reasons. Training, fatigue/drug use, equipment maintenance, proper securing of loads, increased driver aids/safety technology, etc. are where we should be focusing our efforts.

 

Maybe I'm an idiot, but the signs aren't in some strange alphabet, trucks have sophisticated navigation, we have all kinds of technology even on our phones to get around in whatever language we need, I really don't understand why English proficiency is vital if you know how to navigate all the stuff truckers do. I would assume in the business you pick up the lingua franca to do your job pretty quickly and learn the words you need to know.