On Aug. 7, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a rule that never should have needed writing down: If you cannot read an English highway sign, you have no business piloting an 80,000-pound truck on an American interstate. Since Duffy’s crackdown began, more than 26,000 drivers have been pulled off the road for failing basic English proficiency checks. As a designated expert witness who testifies in court about whether someone met a duty of care owed to the public, I can tell you this one is not a close call.

Federal law has required English proficiency for commercial drivers since 1937. That is not a typo. This is not some new invention dreamed up to score points; the requirement predates the modern interstate system and survived every administration until 2016, when the Obama Department of Transportation quietly instructed roadside inspectors to stop issuing out-of-service citations for failing the standard. Citations only, no consequences, and the trucks kept rolling.