You all see this? It's been all over the news. An illegal immigrant who can't read or speak English obtained a commercial driver's license in California. He pulled an illegal u-turn and caused a crash that killed three people in Florida.

Our roads are full of these idiots that can neither speak or read English. My best friend is an over the road trucker and has been saying this for years now that it would become an issue. The stories he tells of what he’s seen at truck stops throughout the country are crazy. I’m hoping that soon a lot of companies will be looking for new drivers, as these illegal, non assimilating, immigrants are weeded out for the safety of us all. As a bonus I bet the Americans in this profession will see better pay rates as a result…

Those Sikhs are bad news. I have a buddy who defends trucking companies for insurance companies. He hates them.

One of my clients had an employee killed by one in a similar incident.

My wife said something similar last week.

I was telling her about my morning commute to work. I was driving my work van in the right lane of a major highway doing about 65mph. I was nearly past an off ramp on the right when some idiot in the left lane realizes that's the exit he wants. He cuts right in front of me. At the speed he was traveling I don't know how he didn't lose control pulling a hard turn like that. I had to jam on the brakes to the point where I left skid marks on the highway to avoid T-boning him as he's broad-sliding in front of me.

My wife commented that the large influx of illegals has contributed to more bad drivers on the road.

There are plenty of legal citizens who are terrible drivers but I think she's right.

I watched the video last night multiple times, it almost seems fake. I know it is not, but a couple of things really stand out. How does the driver of the van never even seem to slow down before slamming into the semi? I mean there is no way the truck driver slammed on the brakes and whipped a U-turn in less than 2 seconds. Also the reaction of the truck driver is completely unalarmed whatsoever, more like a casual "How am I going to get that van out from under my truck look on his face." I agree most of them should never be allowed behind the wheel. Plenty of incompetent drivers throughout the country though. We live in the country on hilly, gravel roads and it is pretty much and every day occurence that some jack doesn't come flying over a hill driving in the center of the road. The other night I met a farm pickup pulling a 5th wheel stock trailer. He was easily doing 55mph when he came over the hill at me in the center of the road. He was luckily smart enough to get over before he hit me. Though in my mirrors I saw the trailer clearly get some air under the tires. I was hoping he put it into the ditch but no such luck.

Dealing with a truck driver that speaks English is like winning the lottery now days.

People lose focus on long or daily routine trips look up the math on how far a vehicle travels in just a few seconds, texting is a good example where this math is used. I’d drive from SD to IL years back only stopping for fuel and hit the drive through, when I got to IL I’d about walk into the door kind of a sea sick motion thing. Dot trucks and first responders get run into often it happens more than you think.

I actually wondered the same thing, how did the driver of the minivan not see the big rig pulling the U-turn in front of him in time to slow down or stop?

NEYotetrapper ,
I can explain a bit on why it appeared the van driver didn't slow down. I used to go to Florida a lot. I am very familiar with that exact piece of road. Been there many times.

My home base in Florida is in the Port St. Lucie/Stuart/Jensen Beach area. I would stay with friends I had there. Fort Pierce is one exit north of there on Florida's turnpike.

Florida's turnpike goes from that area to Orlando/Kissimmee area. It is a good way to save time than going north on I95 , then turning west on I4 to get to Kissimmee. You save about 1 hour plus.

Florida's turnpike is a toll road. Because of that the traffic is a lot lighter than I95 and I4. The exits are spaced apart a bit because every exit is also a toll plaza. As Florida's turnpike is more of an expressway than having exits every mile or so. Pleasant ride , low traffic , ya kinda kick back and put the cruise control on and enjoy the ride. Speed limits are about 70mph , so traffic flows at about 75mph.

With the low traffic , you pay less attention to knuckleheads swapping lanes every few moments.

The tractor trailer must have slowed almost to a stop to make it's illegal turn . It was probably in the extreme right lane to swing over. The mini van was probably in the left lane thinking it was passing a stopped/slow truck. When the truck had to slowly cross over to make it's illegal U turn , the minivan had almost no chance to slow down before impact.

My GUESS is the co driver was navigating. Missed the exit and GPS said make a U turn. Neither of them recognize the alphabet we use. Another story said he only got one of four international road signs correct. Meanwhile its still a violation of federal dot regs to not speak and read English

There was no look of concern on the truck driver’s face after the accident.

There is a reason they call them aliens. They come from countries (planets) that lack the laws, values, ethics, etiquette, etc. They're told the US is the land of free. They get here and think they can do whatever they want and don't give a crap about really assimilating and learning our laws and ways of life. They're given the answers in advance so they can pass tests, and given special minority treatment. It is a recipe for failure.

As far as driving, some of these people come from countries where they grew up delivering groceries on their head. They come here and are given a driver's license to operate a 5,000 to 30,000 lb wheeled machine with not much more than a few days or weeks of training. It may as well be a rocket ship. What do you expect is going to happen?

ol' dad

Agree !
There should be a settlement from each. All the same amount ..... and substantial !

Semi started in the right lane. Min van was in the middle lane. When the van first pops into the video, its maybe 200 yards away from the semi.

Had a fatal semi crash a mile from my house on the highway last year. Semi tried to illegally U-turn on a BLIND emergency vehicle only strip and another semi hit it. They almost got the road opened when a truck decided to plow into the back of a semi that was stopped on the eastbound lane.

Its sketchy enough for passenger vehicles to U turn on highways, legal or not, let alone semis. One highway here they're installing uturn spots on a 60mph highway. They look like half-traffic circles on the sides of the road.

Those foreign truckers follow the gps to a RR trestle near my home and can't get through....Lot's of good wholesome entertainment watching them try to back around a curve and up a hill to get back out.

Not many make it, and many have got stuck in the trestle, or backed off a deep bank.

Do I flag for them? Nope!....Do they get any coherent speech from me? Nope!

There was this one back in May. Ukranian that doesnt speak english

We need to do do something about undocumented workers but in this case, I put the oneness on the states that allowed him to drive and the company that gave him the keys.

Never thought about that , there is no clear accepted universal symbol for a low bridge. Gotta be speaking/reading the language wherever you are driving.
I was up in the French section of Canada a few years ago. All the signs were in French , no English allowed in some places.

While driving I was going slower than my usual and trying my hardest to navigate/follow traffic laws.

A traffic light is easy to figure out. Seeing a sign that was a red octagon , I knew what it meant even though it said ' ARRÊT '.
The trucker that killed 3 in Fort Pierce , FL did it right where there is a universally accepted sign with the no U-turn symbol.

But , yeah , there is no clear symbol for a low bridge. I've seen some signs with a bit of a picture of a low bridge , but it isn't perfectly clear like a red octagon sign.

I dont understand why LE does not put a non-English speaking commercial vehicle driver out of service and impound/tow the vehicle. I would be interested to know if higher higher tells them not to.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR) § 391.11(b)(2)

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;

Cali gave that towel head a free pass to kill people .....no big deal...nothing will change

Many states give a ton of people CDLs that shouldn't and the companies also turn a blind eye. I hope the insurance lobby goes nuts.


My HS sweet heart (30 years ago) step dad couldn't read and could barely write. Her mom took the written test for him. Handed him his papers like it was a participation trophy and Estes hired him no questions asked.

Very true statement sir.
I work in shipping and receiving in a local factory. I'm guessing about 80% of the drivers that come in are foreign. Some speak decent English, but we get frustrated every day with some that know just a few words, and even more annoying are the ones that speak no English and stick their phones in your face for Google Translate. We get a lot of Arabic drivers delivering coils of steel out of Canada. Most of them act like they will die if we don't get them unloaded instantly, even though we go by appointments. They may show up 12 hours before their appointment time and expect to get unloaded immediately. They don't care about the other drivers that are there at their actual appointment time. They seem to care about nothing but themselves getting unloaded and back on the road. They have no shame. They put there hands together and beg for us to get them in fast. I've had multiple american drivers tell me that they see them driving along with there feet up on the dash. Also many,many Ukraniun, Russian, Bosnian, and any other Nationality you can think of come in that barely know or don't know how to speak English. They follow the GPS to a T, often getting to the factory by using roads with a 10 ton weight limit instead of the truck route. Every now and then one will get a ticket for it, but not often. It is very scary who we have driving 80,000 pound rigs out there nowadays and something really needs to be done about it.

I've always wondered about this , illiteracy is rare in the USA. However , some other countries it is kinda common in certain places.

I've met a couple of illiterate US born people. They are very good at hiding the fact they are illiterate if they say , want no one to know.
I knew of one guy who had a job in a supermarket. They would give him cases of cans to stock the shelves , but he could not read what was on the cans. So what he would do was take a can out the case , let's say it was colored green and had a picture of peas on it. He would look up and down the aisle for green cans. Then he would look at green cans closer to see which ones had the same pictures of peas. Then stock the shelf. He worked there for almost 2 years before someone figured out he couldn't read. Really good worker. About 50yo. They got him some help with some literacy volunteers so he could learn to read.

How many of these illegals are illiterate ? And god forbid be driving a tractor trailer or something.

labor shortage.

My Nephews friend is going for his CDL license...

Said he's the only white guy there...

All the truck stops I have stopped in for the last few years have mostly Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Arabic drivers at them. I don't believe any Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Arabs should be allowed in the US and very few Indians. They are mostly not good people. Islam will destroy the West if we let it.

Keith

The regulation is is there. Just not enforced. Who is preventing LE from putting those drivers out of service??????

Excellent post.

I am still wondering why lawdog, in accordance with D.O.T. regs, did not put those drivers out of service.

But have a marker light out on a big rig and see what happens..

Bull crap

The fact that upwards of ten million illegal aliens were allowed into our Country under the previous administration and were coddled and given healthcare, housing, SS numbers, drivers licenses and JOBS would be reasons closer to the truth.

No kidding. They nitpick stuff like a marker light, or a ripped or missing mudflap, but the fact that the driver can't read or write English seems to get swept under the rug. How do you drive all over the US without being able to read road signs, detours etc?

That's the explanation I heard. The trucker was pulled over on the right shoulder. The van driver must have thought it was safe to pass in the left lane. and the van driver probably didn't slow down. The trucker attempted to make a U turn suddenly causing the van driver to hit him.

I thought it was 20 million? That is not a fact. That is political rhetoric. Give a credible Source for this 10 million estimate.

According to Pew Research Center there are 14.2 million illegal aliens currently living in the US.

I'll take your word, but you did not post a link to PEW. There was about 10.5 million prior to Biden. 14.2 minus 11 equals 3.7 million, not near that 10 million fact that was posted. If you are going to post a fact, maybe research a little?

Nothing to with a labor shortage, everything to do with driving down wages and breaking the native working blue collar class.

we've been hearing that 10-20 million number for how many decades now?

I believe the biggest problem with cdl drivers licensing is the truck driver training schools. They are pushing people through that have no business driving a truck. As long as the schools get paid for each person that the school gets financial assistance for, they'll pass them all.
I used to train drivers at my last job to operate a Ready Mix Concrete truck, I quit training because they were straight out of schools, and had no business in a truck.

A better question is how are they getting their CDL!!! LE cant tll someone they cant drive just because. You should know that

trucking schools are subsidized. few weeks ago someone in florida got busted for taking bribes to pass out CDLs