English proficiency: when a driver is placed out of service, and what FMCSA proposes to change

Where things stand on October 14, 2026: since June 25, 2025, a driver who doesn't meet the English requirement of 49 CFR §391.11(b)(2) can be placed out of service at a roadside inspection. On August 10, 2026, FMCSA proposed writing that into the federal regulations. The comment period closed on October 9, 2026. The rule is not final.

The requirement is not new

Under §391.11(b)(2), a person is qualified to drive a commercial motor vehicle only if they:

Can read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records;

Federal rules have required English of commercial drivers since the 1930s. What changed in 2025 is what happens when a driver doesn't meet it.

What changed in 2025

• April 28, 2025. Executive Order 14286 directed FMCSA to rescind its 2016 policy, under which FMCSA's own inspectors cited English violations but did not place drivers out of service, and to work toward making the violation an out-of-service condition.
• May 20, 2025. FMCSA issued a new enforcement policy for its inspectors (MC-SEE-2025-0001).
• June 25, 2025. The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) added §391.11(b)(2) violations to its North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria, the guide state inspectors use at the roadside. From that date, a driver who doesn't meet the requirement can be placed out of service.

How the roadside check works. According to FMCSA, inspections start in English. If the driver may not understand the inspector, the inspector runs a two-step assessment:

1. An interview, to see whether the driver can respond to official inquiries.
2. A highway sign check, to see whether the driver understands U.S. traffic signs in English, including electronic message signs. Only a driver who shows in the interview that they can respond to official inquiries goes on to this step.

The exception at the U.S.–Mexico border

From June 25, 2025, drivers inspected inside the border commercial zones were cited but not placed out of service. Since April 2026 that exception is narrower (FMCSA policy MC-SEE-2026-0002, April 16, 2026, adopted by CVSA on April 19, 2026):

• If the driver's current trip doesn't take them anywhere in the U.S. outside the border commercial zones, the inspector cites the violation but does not place the driver out of service, even if the cargo goes farther with another driver.
• If the current trip involves driving in the U.S. beyond those zones, the driver is placed out of service. To decide, inspectors look at bills of lading, dispatch records, equipment interchange receipts, the driver's statements and other shipping documents.

What the proposed rule would change

The proposed rule (docket FMCSA-2026-0826) answers a petition CVSA filed on October 25, 2025. It would:

• add §391.11(b)(2) to the definition of an out-of-service order, in §390.5 and §390.5T;
• add a new §391.11(c)(1) (proposed): a driver found in violation while driving a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce is placed out of service immediately;
• add a new §391.11(c)(2) (proposed) with the border-zone exception, which does not apply if there is evidence the driver has operated, or intends to operate, a commercial motor vehicle in the U.S. beyond the zones.

FMCSA says the proposal adds no new requirements for carriers or drivers: it writes into the regulations what inspectors already do. The difference is that the CVSA criteria are non-binding guidance that CVSA can revise. If the rule becomes final, states that receive federal safety funds through MCSAP would have to adopt a compatible out-of-service rule as a condition of that funding, whatever CVSA later does with its criteria.

The numbers, according to FMCSA

FMCSA estimates that the narrower border exception, which inspectors have applied since April 2026 and the proposal would write into the regulations, means about 9,000 more out-of-service orders a year inside the border zones, at a cost to motor carriers of about $14.4 million a year. FMCSA calls its method an indirect estimate and asked for comments on it.

What it means for carriers and drivers

• Carriers are ultimately responsible, FMCSA says. FMCSA writes that, as with all driver qualifications, carriers are ultimately responsible for making sure a driver is qualified to operate a commercial motor vehicle before the next dispatch. In May 2025 it published guidance for carriers on assessing a driver's English proficiency during driver qualification (listed under Sources).
• FMCSA does not require English training. Carriers may set up their own.
• An out-of-service order is a declaration by an enforcement officer. It stops the driver from driving; FMCSA expects the carrier would need to find a replacement driver to finish the trip. The proposal does not say how long the order lasts; FMCSA asked commenters how long a driver would stay out of service. FMCSA's existing tools, letters of disqualification and civil penalty actions, stay available, and the proposal doesn't change them.

What happens next

FMCSA will review the comments it received. If it publishes a final rule, it plans to train federal and state inspectors on the changes. Until then, inspectors apply the out-of-service criteria in effect since June 25, 2025 and the April 2026 border policy. We will update this article if there is a final rule.

Sources

• FMCSA, English Language Proficiency; Out of Service Criteria, proposed rule, 91 FR 51422 (August 10, 2026).
• 49 CFR §391.11, General qualifications of drivers.
• Executive Order 14286, Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America's Truck Drivers, 90 FR 18759 (May 2, 2025).
• Docket FMCSA-2026-0826, regulations.gov.
• FMCSA, What should a motor carrier do to assess a CMV driver's English language proficiency (ELP) during the driver qualification process?, FMCSA-DQ-391.11-FAQ001 (May 22, 2025), published on fmcsa.dot.gov.