The widow of a man killed in a crash with a now-deported truck driver says that the new enforcement of English language requirements for truck drivers would have saved her husband’s life by preventing the crash in the first place.
Scott Miller was killed on Highway 285 in Colorado last year when a semi truck driven by Ignacio Cruz-Mendoza lost control and crashed into multiple cars. The now-deported truck driver Cruz-Mendoza had been previously deported more than a dozen times, and has since been deported back to Mexico once again. Cruz-Mendoza required a translator to communicate with police after the wreck, and throughout the court proceedings.
Miller’s wife, Deann says that President Trump’s recent Executive Order on English language requirements for truck drivers would have saved her husband’s life. Drivers will be placed out of service for violating English language proficiency requirements starting in June.
“People like my husband are dead because we have people out there driving trucks that don’t have the proper qualifications, they don’t have the right skills, and they can’t speak the language,” Deann said to The Telegraph. “The man couldn’t speak English, so he wouldn’t have been behind that truck. There’s a lot of people that would be alive today had the Obama administration not changed that law.”
“There’s a lot of people that are not alive today because of this. And then you’ve got the truck drivers who cause these accidents,” she continued. “They’re now either in jail or their lives are ruined too. They shouldn’t even be behind the wheel of a truck. Nobody should have allowed them.”
Wyoming congresswoman Harriet Hageman, who is in support of reinstating the regulations, says that relaxing the English language proficiency requirements caused a “major safety issue for all drivers” and put “millions of American motorists in jeopardy.”
“I don’t care if you come from another country, but please be able to read the traffic signs, because that is very important,” Deann said. “And it’s just reality. It’s not political. I don’t want this to be political. I want it to be a reality that this is just safe.”
