Driver ticketed for driving without being able to speak English.

JAUQO III-X · #1 10-26-2009, 08:19 PM

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...1.4bd4cdb.html

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/20...nglish-ticket/

CapnSev · #2 10-26-2009, 08:31 PM

Oops on the officer's part. He had a really legitimate stop there, and blew it by citing "unable to speak English".

She'll most likely get off now, and continue driving without a license.

5StringBlues · #3 10-26-2009, 08:32 PM

Friggin' Dallas cops.............

JAUQO III-X · #4 10-26-2009, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CapnSev

She'll most likely get off now, and continue driving without a license.

She has a valid license but forgot it because she was hurrying out of the house.

Many drivers forget their licenses upon leaving home for many different reasons.

But I'm sure you haven't.

Mike N · #5 10-26-2009, 08:51 PM

She's been a legal US resident for 29 years and doesn't speak english?

I'm finding that hard to believe.

southernrocker · #6 10-26-2009, 09:09 PM

If you live here then you should speak english. But still it was bad move on the officer's part, his career is over.

scottice · #7 10-26-2009, 09:10 PM

^^^ Yep

**Jerose** · #8 10-26-2009, 09:14 PM

If she doesn't speak/understand English, how can she read road signs? Isn't that kind of dangerous? How did she get her license in the first place without reading English for a permit test?

JAUQO III-X · #9 10-26-2009, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerose

If she doesn't speak/understand English, how can she read road signs? Isn't that kind of dangerous? How did she get her license in the first place without reading English for a permit test?

One can read a different language and understand but not be able to speak it.

McHaven · #10 10-26-2009, 09:21 PM

In Texas, you can take a written test in Spanish.

**Jerose** · #11 10-26-2009, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by McHaven

In Texas, you can take a written test in Spanish.

Ahh well that clears things up I suppose.

But all in all, I feel like the blame should be put on the supervising officer for letting this happen, not the rookie. If the supervision would have been stricter and adequate, this situation would have never happened.

jonathan_matos5 · #12 10-26-2009, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike N

She's been a legal US resident for 29 years and doesn't speak english?

I'm finding that hard to believe.

this.

i went to a Spanish speaking country for 2 weeks and was approaching fluent before i left.

this "unable to speak English" seems like just a Freudian slip in writing.

Ericman197 · #13 10-26-2009, 09:47 PM

Innnnnnnteresting that she was admitted overnight for 'stress related reasons' and ran up a $7,000 bill that she expects the city to pay. This sounds like some kind of scam. You don't need a full battery of testing after getting pulled over.

It's fair to say that the 'no English' ticket is bizarre and unwarranted, but if we ignore the offensive nature of it for a moment, isn't that probably better than an illegal u-turn + not being in possession of her driver's license? It almost sounds like the cop gave her a ticket that could get thrown out of court just to help her out, or like when you get pulled over for doing 5 over and you get a 'tail light out' ticket.

elgecko · #14 10-26-2009, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ericman197

It's fair to say that the 'no English' ticket is bizarre and unwarranted, but if we ignore the offensive nature of it for a moment, isn't that probably better than an illegal u-turn + not being in possession of her driver's license?

Except it's not illegal for a non-commercial driver to not speak English...and she also DID get cited for an illegal u-turn and no license.

Ericman197 · #15 10-26-2009, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elgecko

Except it's not illegal for a non-commercial driver to not speak English...and she also DID get cited for an illegal u-turn and no license.

Ah, I see this pointed out in the second article. Fair game on the illegal u-turn and no license, not so much on the 'no English.'

jazzy grille · #16 10-27-2009, 07:29 AM

Can she read English? If she can't then she is a hazard to other people on the road. I did not see anything in the article about this, but I could have overlooked this.

Since she had a valid license I would assume that she can at least read English. A ticket for not speaking English is asshatery.

Mark Latimour · #17 10-27-2009, 07:36 AM

This idea that you need to be able to read English to drive is somewhat odd. I have driven in many countries where the roadsigns are in foreign languages. You may not have noticed, but there is a reason why road signs follow particular shape / colour codes and often have pictures indicating the rule.

René_Julien · #18 10-27-2009, 07:37 AM

Over here you are not required to be able to read to get your driver's license. (Except for trucks, maybe busses also.)

You can request an oral theoretical exam.
You must take an eye test, but that consists of seeing in which directions some E's are pointed.

MakiSupaStar · #19 10-27-2009, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike N

She's been a legal US resident for 29 years and doesn't speak english?

I'm finding that hard to believe.

The Spanish speaking community is huge. There are many people in the U.S. who live their whole lives not speaking any English at all. In fact, the Spanish speaking community is unique when compared to other minority language groups in the fact that many people don't hold any credence to learning English.

jazzy grille · #20 10-27-2009, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

This idea that you need to be able to read English to drive is somewhat odd. I have driven in many countries where the roadsigns are in foreign languages. You may not have noticed, but there is a reason why road signs follow particular shape / colour codes and often have pictures indicating the rule.

You're kidding right? People who READ English can't even follow signs correctly.