Despite a recent viral post on social media that suggested otherwise, law enforcement in Arkansas isn't cracking down on drivers who can't speak English with $5,000 fines and hauling them out of the trucks in handcuffs. That's at least the result of our search for any actual evidence of such.
In mid-March, the TikTok account of user RawnYates311 posted a video from a truck cab telling about police at weigh stations in Arkansas administering English reading and writing tests.
“I thought it was a joke," he said. "I got stopped at a weigh station in Arkansas and was handed a piece of paper, and they say can you read and write English." He then describes passing a short reading and writing examination at the behest of the police and witnessing the consequences for other drivers that he said failed.
“I was actually witnessing people in handcuffs that had been pulled in," he said. The poster then said the police officer told him: “If you cannot read or write in English that it’s a $5,000 fine, and if you have a company in Arkansas that employs people who can’t read or write in English, it’s a $10,000 fine paid on the spot. If you cannot pay it, you’re automatically arrested and lose your license.” If those details sound familiar, they're similar to penalties that would be levied under the terms of a bill in the Arkansas state house that seeks to criminalize various non-citizen drivers working in the state of Arkansas and fine the fleets who employ them.
The post got millions of views on various social media sites, and while we're not rushing to dismiss what any driver says he saw, here's what Arkansas State Police Major Ron Casey had to say about the English tests:
"Despite social media posts, this is not true."
Casey noted state police "do not check for drivers that can or cannot speak English. Drivers in Arkansas that attempt to acquire a Commercial Driver’s License must pass a written and skills driving test administered by the Arkansas State Police Driver’s Testing facility."
Arkansas State Police, Casey said, "cannot ... enforce federal regulations" around English language proficiency due to a 2016 bulletin from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration relaxing the rules around a lack of English skills, as long as the driver can effectively communicate to the inspector's satisfaction. "Troopers only check validity of driver’s license (commercial and/or operator) when they stop a vehicle or investigate a crash on them."
Yet Casey pointed out that Arkansas State Police doesn't operate the state's weigh stations. That's done by the Arkansas Highway Police, part of Arkansas Department of Transportation. Through a spokesperson, Arkansas Highway Police Chief Jeff Holmes said "as far as us administering English-speaking tests to truck drivers, we do not. So, since we don't, there are no consequences if they fail."
The Highway Police do "ensure compliance," the spokesperson said, with 49 CFR 391.11(b)2, which requires a driver to be ab le to "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."
Drivers who fail that "can be cited or issued a warning," the spokesperson continued, but there are "no arrests" made in Arkansas weigh stations for lacking English.
Perhaps the trucker on TikTok got their wires crossed after reading about the aforementioned pending bill, which would impose fines of $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for fleets for various offenses if passed, whether for being a non-citizen and driving a commercial vehicle in Arkansas or for not speaking English and driving a commercial vehicle.
As the State and Highway police note, there's nothing in Arkansas state law that would allow state authorities to fine or arrest someone for failing to speak, read or write in English.
