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Driver ticketed for driving without being able to speak English.

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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. :D