JIM “PAPPY” MOORE: Truckers: Can You Read This?

President Trump and his Department of Transportation is putting a stop to drivers of big rigs who cannot read English. The federal government has dropped the hammer on illegal immigrants driving big trucks in America. In recent weeks Transportation’s Sean Duffy has had a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigrants driving big trucks.

This all happened after a tragic accident where a trucker wearing a turban illegally made a U-turn on a major highway, in spite of signs saying “NO U-TURNS” at the place he tried to make one. As the rear end of his big rig stuck out into highway traffic, a vehicle slammed into the side of this big rig, killing all the occupants. It was video taped from the cab of the trucker’s big rig. It all happened in a few seconds and it was crushing to watch knowing those people died with no chance of avoiding the collision.

After the driver of that big truck got out and acted annoyed and uninterested in the horror his bad driving had visited upon innocent civilians, there was outrage by Americans. Who is this guy? What’s he doing driving a big rig? Can’t he read English?

There is a requirement that Commercial Drivers be able to read English. Immediately, Feds started checking truckers to find out if they could READ ENGLISH. Within days almost 200,000 truckers on our highways reportedly had their Commercial Drivers License revoked and they were taken off the highways.

Some in trucking were outraged, saying “these guys might have been driving 20 years without an accident but now they’re gone, just like that.” Other truckers were not so ready to be outraged, talking freely about the foreign born truckers who couldn’t read, and who wore sandals or flip-flops to drive big rigs.

Most Americans were more than ready to see truckers who can’t read English off the highways. How is a trucker supposed to handle a situation where important information is in a sign? A lot can happen in a few seconds where a guy tries to figure out what that sign might be saying.

“Why is it such a big deal?” That is what some are saying online. Well, let’s talk about that. How many Americans would you guess die in a year in an accident involving a big truck? I went looking and found data which speaks to that issue.

In 2021 there were 5,788 people in America KILLED in accidents involving big trucks. That’s 16 people dead a day, every day of the year, for a year – from an accident with a big truck. Most of the dead in the accidents are in civilian vehicles, but 17% are big rig drivers. That’s almost 1000 truckers killed in a year in big rig accidents. That’s almost 3 per day.

Among the dead, about 11% are pedestrians or bicycle riders.

That is a lot of regular carnage on the roads involving big rigs. How much of it is due to not being able to read and immediately understand signs? How much is due to speeding? How much is due to unsafe driving for the conditions? How much is due to wearing flip flops or sandals? We do not know those things. We do know that about 1/3 of the dead truckers were NOT wearing their seat belt. Now ask yourself a question: which truck drivers are most likely not to be buckled-up?

I do not have the numbers on how many people involved in accidents with big rigs who did not die but lived with catastrophic injuries due to such accidents. I would suggest it likely is larger than the 5,788 dead. People who cannot walk. People with brain injuries. People with lost limbs.

Big rigs are missiles on the ground, flying along highways at high speeds, with loads that weigh many tons. They cannot be stopped quickly. They cannot see behind them. They have blind spots on the highways to the left and to the right. Most of them do an admirable job dealing with drivers of smaller vehicles who sometimes drive erratically and cause accident with big rigs. Most of them are wearing their seat belt. Most of them can read English. Most of them are an asset to our country. But not all of them are that. We need those deficient truckers off the highways.

Removing the truckers who cannot read is a good first step. Removing all illegal immigrants who are driving big rigs is another good step. We need truckers. We need good Truckers. We need Americans as our Truckers.

If you are following too closely behind a big rig that cannot see you and he has to stop, but you’re checking your cellphone for texts, you’re probably dead in seconds. And he has to live with your stupidity and carelessness. How do you think he and his family feel about that? And then there is the family of the 20 year old girl on her way back to college who takes her own life because she just had to read that text someone has just sent her.

Truckers have a hard life driving, having their books checked, getting their rigs weighed, etc. Grueling hours and conditions. We know this. But we should be able to expect they’re all Americans, they all read English, they all are buckled-up, and they have decent footwear on.

Link to source: