A Speeding Deaf Person is Pulled over.

He cannot speak nor read lips. He can only sign. If the officer cannot sign will he need to call an interepter? This seems like a straightfoward Miranda thing, but I thought I would check with you guys for the Straight Dope.

or the officer could just use his notepad …

Yeah, but what if he’s blind as well as deaf?

Oh wait, never mind… :wink:

I am not deaf, but I was once riding with two deaf friends when they were pulled over.

Understandably, the officer seemed a little confused at first: silence from the driver, but the guy in the backseat talking to him.

I explained the situation to the officer, and helped communicate his directions to the driver and his wife (I sign a little).

One thing for sure: it was easy to keep his eye on everyone’s hands!

It went fine. Everything checked out, and the officer let us go – he had stopped us for a burned-out brake light.

I’m sure my assistance sped things along, but I would bet that any good cop would be able to handle a similar situation, probably writing instructions out on a pad of paper or something.

Yeah, that’s silly. How would a deaf/blind driver know he was being pulled over?

“Yeah, but what if he’s blind as well as deaf?”

Ah, come on, how would they be driving?

“or the officer could just use his notepad …”

Believe it or not alot of them don’t. One time I got pulled over by our local ADA trainer for the police department & he didn’t know how to communicate with me. He wrote about 5 words down & that’s about it.

“If the officer cannot sign will he need to call an interepter?”

Before I answer that, how did the cop know the guy can’t speak or read lips & only knows sign?

Handy are you Deaf? Sorry to be so blunt but my sister is deaf and we all had to learn how to sign and this has the potential to be quite a problem. She was pulled over by a real asshole cop once who called my mother when my sister only kept “gesturing” to him. My mother was so pissed she went down to the station after arriving to save my sis…the guy was eventually put on desk duty by the cheif. I sympathize with anyone who is deaf in this world. It’s full of assholes who just don’t get it.
I’ve been to many seminars on deaf children, teens, regional dialects - yes there are dialects and accent’s and styles to signing - and it is a very good idea to learn several universal signs so people - especially deaf children or teens who don’t know how to read lips yet - will be able to understand you.
Occasionally I’ll have a student in one of my classes who is deaf, and I’ll sign the leture to them. Other’s don’t care usually. And usually by the time they reach college they know how to read lips. Though one year we had two deaf freshman entering the psych program and I signed every lecture to them. Some of the other kids thought it was cool, but I thought I was just doing my job.

I would suggest that every deaf driver print up a little card explaining that they are deaf and can communicate via writing. Show the cop the card if pulled over. And keep your hands on the steering wheel.

They already have such a card in Maine. Other states are catching on. And any deaf person can get a ID card from the AAD.

cite

Phlosphr, yep Im deaf. But I dont speed…

“Show the cop the card if pulled over. And keep your hands on the steering wheel.”

How can you get your card if you have your hands on your steering wheel?

Quite a few deaf people reaching for a notepad in their back pockets get shot by cops. I don’t recommend it.

I learned to not say anything all, I just make the sign ‘Im deaf’ & that’s about it, they can figure out what to do next. Yes, I have asked for an interpreter. They said it takes them 90 minutes to get one so that idea is out.

I also asked for an interpreter at the local courthouse & the courthouse said no to that too (I paid for my own). The judge who ran the courthouse was a former cop & my case was about cops not communicating with me. What chance did I possibly have with a case about cops not giving me an interpreter/communicating in a courthouse that was run by an excop (This I know cause I asked his secretary) who wouldn’t provide me an interpreter? lol

Naturally I didn’t win.

Very rarely does an officer pull you over and immediately go to the side of your car. You’d have a minute or two while they radio in your plate and stuff to get things ready and have your license, card, or a notepad available by the time they get to the car door.

But don’t many people carry their licenses in their back pockets (in a wallet) or in a purse? Seems to be the same risk factor going for one’s license as getting a card or a notepad. Another option would be to keep the notepad in the glove box, but that’s probably not a good idea, since it could cause the same concern for a police officer as reaching under the seat or something.

I suppose keeping to the relevant speed limit might be wise. :slight_smile: Otherwise, well, if the silly cop is unable to read/write, HUH - he is now part of the problem too.

But, yes, there really should be some simple method of keeping a little card announcing the deaf fact, not only for speeding, but also, say, for having witnessed an accident or whatever.

This brings up a question I always had: How do they account for the fact that a deaf person can’t hear sirens?

I assume deaf drivers are extra-vigilant about keeping track of visual clues–like if they seem all the cars pulling over, they’ll figure an emergency vehicle is coming by and they’ll pull over too. But would they get in trouble for not pulling over?

Also, if a deaf person is being pulled over, say for speeding, do they cut them a little slack as far as how long it takes them to know that they should pull over?

I ask because a long time ago I was pulled over on a major highway because I was speeding. Apparently, the trooper had turned his lights on but not his siren, and had been behind me for several miles. I guess I hadn’t checked my rear-view. The big scary trooper was quite angry with me, and reamed me out for not being more observant. He was absolutely right, in my opinion, and I’ve been more careful ever since. He didn’t cut me any slack on the speeding ticket (not that I asked!), but didn’t write me a ticket for not pulling over right away. I don’t know if that was even an official offense, given that his siren was not on. I was obviously not resisting arrest. I was just oblivious. And if he wanted me to pull over right away, he would have turned it on, I guess. I hope a deaf driver would be more observant than I was!

Anyway, I guess my question ultimately rests on how the fact that the deaf driver can’t hear a siren affects how his moving violations are treated.

sorry about the language in GQ
but
that judge is a fuckin’ asshole!

I have handled this situation as a prosecutor. We didn’t have a person that could sign, so we handled the whole case in writing. A bit slow, but we covered all the legal bases. The guy was found guilty (86 in a 60 is hard to beat) but was put on deferred ajudication.

As far as the deaf guy getting chewed out due to not hearing the siren, sounds fishy to me. First, a cop will use his lights for a good distance before he uses a siren, and secondly, a deaf driver will be very aware of visual cues ( such as lights) since he would rely on them all the time while driving.

Handy you need a better lawyer! Any idiot could have argued a discrimination case to the point of the state paying for all court costs, as well as your retirement. Major ignorance on you council’s side.

Possible hijack, GD issue.

Deaf people driving? I’m certainly not morally opposed, but there are laws regarding headphones and driving which prohibit the wearing of headphones because you can’t hear what’s going on. This was obviously a big enough concern to warrant a law, how is it different if you’re deaf?

Fire trucks have sirens, as do police cars, because you can’t always see them. Every vehicle made in the last few decades has been mandated to have a horn, so you can hear them if there’s an emergency. Sound is a very important element in avoiding fatal accidents. In fact I usually hear cars coming before I see them, if they’re around a corner, which is the deadliest situation for anyone unaware.

My point being, if it’s illegal to wear headphones because it impairs one’s aural perception of traffic (to paraphrase), why is it legal for deaf people to drive? I’ve heard that their other senses are magnified if hearing was lost post-birth, but I’m sure no concrete data are available, or applicable.

I have no doubts that deaf people can be, and are good drivers. Is there some way that they compensate for thier situation? I’m genuinely curious. I wonder about the ways that people with different abilities go about daily tasks, especially when I saw braile at the drive-up ATM yesterday.

Enlighten me, that’s what this board is for.

“Handy you need a better lawyer! Any idiot could have argued a discrimination case to the point of the state paying for all court costs, as well as your retirement.”

Yeah, right. You should read up about the California court system first before you make such comments. Because in theory you are correct, however, in practice it couldn’t happen that way. Yes, I wrote the people above the judge & they said there wasn’t anything they could do because of Prop 209 at the time & I would have to go through another process that looked like it would take forever. BTW, 209 is from '96.