No-English Traffic Ticket

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/DN-citations_23met.ART.State.Edition2.4bac015.html?nTar=OPUR

"In that case and perhaps the others, officials said, the officer was confused by a pull-down menu on his in-car computer that listed the charge as an option."

IANAL, but methinks a bit more officer training is in order. Maybe start with the constitution? 1st amendment perhaps?

I think it's great that millions who can't read or speak English are driving on America's roads. Perhaps they should provide road signs in the top 50 languages.

Are US signs not graphic? Seems silly to have signs that rely on language - apart from navigations signs, obviously!
http://www.driving-test-success.com/uk-road-signs.htm

And what about the cases which have already been dealt with?

ah texas. that's why i'm getting the hell out of this state.

@RimJobJim: Maybe that is why they have designed international signs used in nearly every nation around the world, derrrr.

ps: DER is stop on a Turkish road sign.

@PacRim Jim: I guess we shouldn't let tourists drive when they come to America, either? Hmm...

Moving to America? Speak English, morons. Don't expect an entire country to adjust for you.

The country should not have to adjust for you... or the hundred of thousands of illegals like you that take advantage of America.

@me, Levey

They aren’t saying these people have to be accommodated for not speaking English, they just shouldn't be persecuted for it. Seriously, where are you getting spoon fed this information?

Yeah those non english speaking drivers are great...until you get hit by one and they take off because they don't have insurance. Hopefully they checked for that.

@me

Leave the country if you don't like it :)

@Zo

That your best response? Not much of an argument. Maybe you have no argument and agree that a country shouldn't have to adjust to accommodate immigrants and that immigrants should work at fitting into their new world. Maybe then they'll be better accepted.

And no. I won't leave the country :P

I have farts in my pants.

So you're saying that a country shouldn't make allowances for immigrants and should force them to speak their language?

Is that why all Americans fluently speak the many Native American languages?

@Levey

I live in Miami, so I know what it feels like to have language barriers, even though I am hispanic and speak some spanish. But, as Gauldar said, just because you're frustrated because someone does not speak your language, doesn't mean they should be prosecuted.

Also, why is it that if WE go to most countries, they speak their own language AND English, while we only speak English?

Saying that you need to speak English to drive is silly, what about tourists? Also road signs are symbols, not words, so English proficiency is not required. There is no reason that all immigrants MUST be fluent in English. If I am a citizen and sponsor my parents/spouse/etc to come here then they do not need to speak English. Yes it would be nice if they would learn, but there is nothing that requires them to speak English. And in a state like Texas where most services are available in both Spanish and English.

@DS

So what do you propose?

Oh, I'm sure there are LOTS of accidents caused by a language barrier.

I remember meeting a friend of my parents who had worked in Taiwan. He just looked at me kind of funny
when I asked him if he learned Chinese. Very many English speaking Americans live, travel, and work in other countries without even trying to learn a second language.

America is an English and Spanish speaking country, not an English speaking country. Get used to it.

It is federal law for commercial drivers to speak English. They are conducting business, so I believe the law is in order.

As for the woman who received the ticket in this case, she has lived in America for ELEVEN YEARS!!!!! How does someone live in a country for that long and not speak the language fluently. How many of you would move to Japan and not learn Japanese?!? No, she should not have gotten the ticket, but she should learn English a little better. Police around here have to deal with these idiots all of the time and they shouldn't have to. And they DO think they should be accomidated to because they don't speak English. Many of them even pretend to not know any English so they can get away with being ignorant or at least pretend to be ignorant as well as suck as much as they can out of the pockets of American tax payers. This woman in question not only had the ticket for not speaking English dropped, they dropped the ticket for no u-turn which is clearly marked with a sign that had a PICTURE on it. No words. And she got away with that, too.

Once again, catering to the hispanic community in the DFW... sad.

Well it is about time we started to enforce the Official language of the United States. That woulod be English for those of you that don't know.

It's sad that they're trying to pass this off as a mistake due to the inexperience of new officers. This isn't a 'rookie mistake', it's a Texas mistake.

The DMV issues International Drivers Licenses to travelers, yet there is no requirement to learn the languages of countries visited. Not much language proficiency is necessary in order to navigate roads... this is why road signs have internationally recognizable symbols, shapes, colors, lights, etc.

The USA has no official language. Deal with it.

Seriously. If you come to America, where MILLIONS and MILLIONS of people speak ENGLISH, learn to speak English, dammit. Plain and simple. Americans may visit a country as a tourist without having learned the language, but we sure as hell don't choose that place as our permanent residence without even trying to learn the language at all whatsoever.

Being from Texas (Austin, whoop whoop!), yeah, language barriers and driving do not mix. It may sound like an exaggeration, but there are SO many accidents in Texas where Americans get gypped because an illegal hit their car because they couldn't understand some sign or traffic law, having no insurance and then playing the language card to get out of it. It is ridiculous.

I don't necessarily agree w/writing someone a ticket for that, but this language b.s. has got to get better.

People who speak spanish have to pass driving tests too. So them not understanding the road signs makes no sense.

Honestly, I have observed many times that ethnic people with heavy accents simply choose to not speak English at a given situation. Being pulled over by a cop is a prime example. I think part of it must be a desire to slink under the radar maybe, because the officer will be frustrated with the language barrier. But I also wonder if there is also a bit of a personal pride/frustration that comes with maybe knowing some broken English, but not wanting to speak it because they might sound weird?
Or they are flustered and can't express themselves in the minimal English they might know.

I know enough German to get by, but if I were pulled over by an officer, I think I'd revert to English too. At least in Germany, I don't think they would give me a ticket.

I agree that any person who immigrates should try to learn the language and adapt. But prosecuting them is fucking ridiculous.

The thing is, this woman was not prosecuted. She isn't even being held accountable for what she DID do wrong. All because DPD is afraid to upset the hispanic community around here which is growing at an alarming rate & we American taxpayers are paying for them and their babies. I live here in the DFW & it is ridiculous what we have to put up with when it comes to these language barriers, so to speak. I personally have had a hispanic, non-English speaking man attempt to hit my car with my 3 yr old and 1 month old infant inside causing me to swerve to avoid him hitting me and causing another car to hit me. He continued to drive like nothing happened. The gentleman in the other car(an English speaking hispanic) was very angry & went to confront the man. He acted like he wasn't even driving!! How ridiculous is that?! It is pathetic that they don't even try. To live in a country & not learn the language is just sad. And since English is not the "official" language of America, maybe it should be and anyone who wants citizenship should be made to learn English before they can become a citizen. Deal with it on a daily basis and see how frustrating it can really be.

My great grandmother was a immigrant who never really learned English. She, in fact, wanted to move back to Germany. Her family was here though.

She was harassed for speaking German in the US during WW I. Despite the coercion, she was not able to learn English. Some people are not adept enough to learn a new language. She spoke a couple others, but couldn't get a handle on English.

There used to be tons of newspapers in all kinds of languages in the US. Is there a much of a need now for news in Italian or Yiddish in the US? Nope, all those immigrant's kids learned English. The same thing will happen here. Chill out!

Did your ancestors have it tough when they immigrated here? Spare someone else's progenitors your malice and be nice.

You are not even required to know how to read in any language to drive. Audio tests are available. If you dont like it, you can petition to raise the testing standards.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/dl/dl_info.htm#languages

@MommaO, who is the "we American taxpayers"? I didn't
know all the Hispanic people I've ever worked with didn't get taxes deducted from their checks. Damn, I'm
so jealous now that them made more money than I did. Thank you so much for telling me. You're a smart lady!

although I agree that a ticket is not warranted for not speaking english, neither is any other consideration because you don't. in other words, no preferential treatment. if you have any questions about what rights are guaranteed to you, read the Constitution and Bill of Rights. If you have trouble reading it, learn english.

Why, thank you, Mitch. American tax payers includes many different races, though. Even hispanics! I just feel that so long as anyone is to live in any country, working there and working to become a citizen of that country, they should try to learn the language. That statement actually goes into a whole other realm of the lady not speaking English. More of the idea that I have paid thousands of dollars having my children and raising them and many illegal aliens are here having children for free and then either lying to the system so that we are paying for them and their children or completely ducking it. And yes, there are many Americans that will do the same thing. I have unfortunately seen it. It just sounds like this lady has come here, had some American children and she now gets by without having to learn English since she is given preferential treatment due to the fact that she hasn't bothered to learn English well enough to tell a cop that she was performing an illegal u-turn because she was late getting her daughter to school. She also could have requested a Spanish speaking officer. I'm sure she didn't want to do that, though. I wouldn't have wanted to sit and wait, either. So does that mean that we should all have to learn Spanish so that we can acomidate the Spanish speaking community? That just seems completely ridiculous. My main gripe about her case is the fact that they dropped all of the 3 tickets issued to her. Ok, drop the one that should have never been given to her, but make her pay the other ones! She broke the law and needs to be held accountable!

Some people when they look at half a glass of water, they see it half full. Other people look at half a glass of water and say, "Hey! Who drank half my water!"

I couldn't find where it said she got off for the U Turn violation. Perhaps that was part of an arrangement to avoid an expensive civil suit. If that's the case, I think the citizens of Dallas got off cheap. I don't see how she is getting preferential treatment seeing as her civil rights were violated.

Well she did get off for the u turn violation. I live in the DFW and have heard DPD speaking on it. And now she is asking for money from the police department. Her attorney, Domingo Garcia, former mayor pro tem of Dallas, has filed a complaint with the city and she's asking for $5,000. For what? What did she have to stay in the hospital for over THIS?! See it how you will. No on stepped on her civil rights. There IS such a law. He just misapplied it. Like I said, she has now gotten off scott-free and will now most likely get money out of the deal. Damn... who'da thunk it.