By Rita Cook
Correspondent
Texas Metro News
AUSTIN, TX – Driving on Texas roads has for many become synonymous with living a nightmare.
While there are many reasons for bad driving, last week Texas lawmakers reviewed state rules governing foreign commercial drivers in a Texas House Transportation Committee hearing to further address the issue.
The topic is on the radar in Austin spurred by a number of high-profile vehicle crashes which has left lawmakers determining how to tighten the eligibility requirements and restrict foreign commercial driver’s licenses in Texas.
During the hearing, lawmakers addressed a major surge in big rig crashes that involved foreign commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders, which have also been discovered as being tied to fraudulent digital documentation that began in 2021 during a Mexican licensing shift.
The root cause of the issue in April 2021 occurred when Mexico transitioned to a digital commercial license system. According to Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) officials, the digital shift created a large loophole for fraudulent licenses and unverified driver histories to filter onto Texas roadways.
Knowing that the dangers of the roadways in Texas and nationwide have been getting worse since that shift, the state is now moving toward enforcing English-only testing.
And now, with that restriction, some Texas drivers are having their licenses downgraded also as a result of a federal audit that exposed these widespread compliance errors.
On a national level regarding CDL drivers the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) reported around 200,000 commercial drivers (about 5% of the total U.S. trucking workforce) no longer meet the newly updated strict federal eligibility standards that have been instituted. One major federal mandatory vetting is that every single applicant’s legal presence using the digital SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) system must be confirmed.
As for CDL drivers in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has directed the DPS to enforce English-language proficiency requirements and permanently stop administering CDL exams in Spanish.
It was noted that after implementing the blanket ban on non-domiciled CDLs for refugees, asylum seekers, and DACA recipients, Texas did adjust the policy to re-allow temporary agricultural workers on H-2A visas to hold licenses for the purpose of farm-sector labor gaps only.
The DPS officials who testified at the Capitol did not release exact, single-sum cumulative crash numbers, but they did verify a severe, five-year surge in 18-wheeler accidents directly as being directly tied to non-domiciled and foreign-licensed drivers.
With this crackdown in place, the Texas hearings also considered supply chain adjustments and a push-and-pull dynamic between Texas and other Southwest border states in this regard.
For example, the commercial driver’s license (CDL) crackdown has shown that, according to the American Trucking Associations, foreign-born drivers represent nearly 18% of the U.S. trucking workforce. Because 92% of shipping carriers operate small fleets of 10 trucks or fewer, small regional logistics businesses are feeling the pressure of this new safety regulation.
One shift to adjust to the new rules and keep the supply running has been to have compliant Mexican-domiciled carriers haul freight directly to the border zone, where strictly vetted, domestic U.S. drivers take over. In the end it is fair to say Texas drivers deserve to expect safety on the road without facing an obstacle course every they put their key in the ignition to take part in living their daily lives.
Rita Cook is a world traveler and writer/editor who specializes in writing on travel, auto, crime and politics. A correspondent for Texas Metro News, she has published 11 books and has also produced low-budget films.
