The legislation proposal to exclusively give CDLs to English-speakers by limiting licensing testing to English is a solution to a complete non-issue. There's no reason to add to either the trucking crisis or the immigration crisis currently taking place in America.
You're right, people do die from accidents involving big rigs. Have you, by chance, been in Arkansas recently? Have you seen the way everyday drivers behave around semis? Do you have statistics on the actual deaths caused by big rigs? They only account for 11% of fatalities. Three times as many people are killed by drunk drivers. Those individuals only lose their license for 6 months, while you are trying to take away a large majority of legal citizens' ability to drive indefinitely.
If you really want to address the issue of vehicular fatalities on roadways, this tiny issue you've made up is not the thing to do. Make citizens re-take a driving test every time we renew our driving licenses. It's eight years between renewals here in Arkansas, and that's a long time for bad habits to go unchecked and good habits to fall aside. Invest in the safety of drivers by making sure drivers know how to drive safely. Make driver's ed free and mandatory. Pay DL examiners more. Encourage good driving habits with reduced insurance premiums.
Don't fear monger using the moniker of "illegal immigrant" and then claim it's about civilian lives.
This is an inconvenience at best and adding fuel to an already raging fire at worst. Individuals without legal immigration status cannot obtain a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) due to recent federal regulations. The people you are claiming kill the most people only account for 4% of the total population. You are demonizing a specific population because you don't want to address real problems, like the rate of poverty in Arkansas or the complete lack of funding for education.
If you have any decency, you will remove this bill from consideration and work on legislation that strengthens healthcare, eradicates poverty, and doesn't enrich the people who prey on the people of Arkansas.
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