(The Center Square) – Roadway safety across all 50 states through core elements of legal compliance, attentiveness and defensive techniques coupled with American border security were spotlighted in the State of the Union on Tuesday evening.
Second-term Republican President Donald Trump, in his address to a joint session of Congress boycotted by 15 senators and 70 members of the House, said he is seeking passage of the Dalilah Law that would prohibit “any state from granting commercial driver's licenses to illegal aliens.”
The namesake and her father, Dalilah Coleman and Marcus Coleman, respectively, were guests of Trump for his 108-minute speech.
“Dalilah Coleman was only 5 years old in June 2024 when an 18-wheel tractor-trailer plowed into her stopped car traveling at 60 miles an hour or more,” Trump said. “The driver was an illegal alien let in by Joe Biden and given a commercial driver's license by open borders politicians in California.”
In a Bakersfield, Calif., interview airing last week, Marcus Coleman told a television outlet four times his family was told she would not live. He favors legislative changes making only legal citizens with completed background check eligible for commercial driver’s licenses.
Partap Singh, 20, was the driver of the big rig in the collision. He was deported to India in September.
In an email to The Center Square, Todd Spencer, president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said, “Tonight, the president highlighted the tragic consequences of a preventable truck crash caused by an unqualified truck driver. For professional truckers, safety is not political, it is our daily responsibility.
“Ensuring that every individual operating an 80,000-pound commercial vehicle on America’s highways is properly vetted, trained, and held to consistent standards is essential to protecting our members and the motoring public.”
Dalilah Coleman was in a coma for three months and diagnosed with head trauma.
“When a vehicle accident happens,” Marcus Coleman told KGET, “the truck doesn’t care if you’re a Republican or you’re a Democrat, or you’re 18 years old or 9 years old. It doesn’t matter what side of the field you’re playing on. It’s going to happen, has happened and is continuing to happen.”
Trump said his administration, on this issue led by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Administrator Derek Barrs of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, is “not playing games.”
“Doctors said Dalilah would never be able to walk or talk, have a good life,” he said. “She wouldn't even be able to eat again. But against all odds, she is now in the first grade, learning to walk.
“Many, if not most, illegal aliens do not speak English and cannot read even the most basic road signs as to direction, speed, danger or location. That's why tonight I'm calling on Congress to pass what we will call the Dalilah Law, barring any state from granting commercial driver's licenses to illegal aliens.”
A statement from the Commercial Vehicle Training Association said in part, “For too long, gaps in oversight, inconsistent enforcement, and exploitation of regulatory loopholes have placed American motorists at risk and undermined reputable CDL training providers. Dalilah’s Law represents an important step toward restoring integrity to the system by ensuring that only properly trained, properly licensed, and legally authorized drivers are operating commercial motor vehicles on our nation’s highways.”
Spencer said, “OOIDA and the professional truck drivers we represent will continue supporting efforts at USDOT and in Congress to strengthen licensing standards and training requirements that will make our roads safer for everyone.”
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