Per the story linked below I had no idea that drivers license exams could be taken in non-english languages. How is this a good idea for someone who supposedly has to drive on US roads and read US signs and highway directions?
Assuming offering drivers using American a roadways license exams in languages other than english has some basis in prudence and logic … what is it?
Judge Rules On Driver’s License Exam
I think they can figure out what a STOP sign means without actually speaking english. Ditto for speed limits, exit signs, etc. My gf’s mother drives perfectly well with a limited command of English, as I imagine to many thousands of other immigrants.
Sounds like a good program to me, living as an immigrant is tough, and being unable to drive to work would make it all the more difficult to find/hold down a job, get kids to school, etc.
Critical signs are unique in shape, and that alows the illiterate english speakers to drive also.
You had to identify all signs on the drivers test by shape, when I got mine. An octagon is always “stop”. A “railroad crossing” shaped as an X.
The language skills needed to read questions are much more advanced than those needed to drive. Since most signage is actually in the form of a pictogram telling you what to do (because who is going to read “slippery when wet” when you can have snakes following your car), a driver only needs minimal reading skills to be on the road. As long as they can recognize a street name, they’re fine.
Is the test offered in Braille?
What’s the problem with administering the test in a non-English language, as long as what it describes (the road signs, Important Interactions With Traffic Authorities, etc) is described in English? For example:
*Kio estas la signifo de la sekva rugxa vojsxildo kun ok flankoj:
/--\
| |
\--/
a) pauxzu.
b) haltu.
c) plirapidigu.
d) dormo estas permesita.*
It does not matter what language the test is in, as long as the test taker knows that the right answer is b), and that answer is, “the red sign with eight sides means ‘stop’.”
If the non-English drivers-ed course also took the user through the English-language versions of typical roadside interations (what the police say when you are pulled over, for example, and what you should do in response), that would be all the better. Non-English courses should teach the specialized English needed for US driving.
If you guys did more symbolic road signs, this would not be as much of a problem either. I am always amazed by the amount of print on US road signs: a warning sign with the word BUMP instead of the bump symbol, for example.
The question of whether it’s a good idea to permit non-English speakers to get US drivers’ licenses is probably a subject for GD. But the main reason that some jurisdictions are willing to do so, and therefore give driving tests in other languages, is quality control and safety for drivers.
The rationale is that many non-English-speaking immigrants are going to be driving cars in the US. Some, as Malodorous points out, need to drive to get to work, and some even have jobs (delivery, etc.) that require driving as part of their duties. As noted by Harmonious Discord, most traffic signals and symbols don’t actually require knowledge of English. So, since it’s easier and faster to learn basic traffic laws than it is to learn a new language, the rationale argues that we’re better off making sure new immigrants who want to drive can pass a driver’s test and qualify for a license, even if they’re not yet competent in English.
The idea is that if they can quickly get licensed as legal drivers, then they’ll be motivated to pass the driver’s license tests. Whereas if we simply prohibit them from legal driving until they’ve mastered English, they’ll be more likely to take the risk of driving unlicensed and illegally in the meantime, which is bad for our traffic safety in general. (For example, unlicensed drivers are more likely to flee the scene of an accident.)
Have you lived such a sheltered life that you’ve never driven in a foreign country? “Arrêt” means stop in Canada, and I’ve never worried about Canadians wanting to forbid me to drive. Oh, Canada’s bilingual; that shouldn’t count. Well, Alto in Mexico was easy enough to understand. Still too close to home? How about a big, empty, red octogon that says nothing? Understandable enough in Germany. Actually Germany’s a great example. I got my SOFA drivers license there having taken the test in English. It doesn’t take a whole to to understand that “Einbahnstrasse” means “one way street” or that “hochspannung” means “keep out” (well, “high voltage”).
Even Japan allows you to take the driver’s license exam in a foreign language (including English). It will, of course, test whether you can understand the road signs. And many countries allow foreign visitors to drive without getting a local driver’s license, usually up to 1 year.
also lets not forget the 1000s of tourists that drive cars in the states without necesarily speaking english … and they dont even have to pass an exam.
And lets face it … for most european countries, the US- exam is a joke, anyway …
Are Europeans subject to more difficult drivers tests then American’s? I’d never heard that (and honestly wouldn’t have guessed it after watching people drive in many European countries).
definitely … (at least comparing a central europe driver’s licence exam to one from illinois)…
at least they had me ride 20+ mins in full city traffic, with lots of special rules concerning mass transportation (tramways, etc…) … also you must be pretty proficient (an fast) in parallel parking where you need to get a 4meter car into a 4,5meter parking space and stuff like that. also taking off on a rather steep incline (of a parking garage) with a stick shifted car that is not yours, etc…
but then again, europe is big and things that hold true for germany/austria/switzerland/be-ne-lux might be different in sicily
cheers
alfred
In California, the foreign language written driver’s permit test has extra questions that test sign identification that English version does not have.
That’s what I would expect here. You take the official government tests after a couple months of simulator driving, and a driving class behind the wheel with an instructor. You can drive in the day with a adult driver and no passengers. You train over maybe a year, before you take the written test. You can take the driving test after passing the written. It consists of most of the vehicular driving test you discribed. Depending on the state for years between renewal, everyone then gets a hearing, and visual check and then a new license.
Do you have to test by driving a vehical at renewal time? Do you have to renew over the years?
In Germany I had to take courses that cost A LOT of money, despite holding a valid US driver’s license. It’s just a very different system and much more difficult. You could miss three questions on the written and still pass and had to make no mistakes on the practical test. I was working in an office environment with many expats and most if not all (expect me) failed the written exam on the first try.
Of course Europe is like the USA in the regard that there is little standardization as far as exams in different countries, or at least the quality control is not there. German and Swiss seem the most particular, with some countries less so. Likewise I got a Kentucky driver’s license by just surrendering an Ohio drivers license and some money. In Ohio I had to take an exam and surrender my Florida license. IMO Kentucky driver’s are worse, as a class, than Ohio drivers. Not by a ton, but noticeably so. At least less cautious.
So, given the rigor of the exams and driving tests, is a confused senior mistaking the gas and brake, and taking header into a market or crowd of people unlikely in the stricter European countries?
I also took the exam to get my U.S. Army Europe driver’s license. I was about 19, and had been driving in the U.S. for three years.
In fact, here’s the current manual, thanks to Google:
http://rmv.hqusareur.army.mil/drivrman/190-34.htm
In any event, it was a very difficult exam, as other’s have stated. The hardest part was the sign identification, because there were something like 100 signs, and you had to get something like 97 correct or you automatically failed the exam.
I passed on the first try, but I really put my nose to the grindstone in studying.
And though all of the signs with words on them were in German (except for STOP signs), I took the exam in English.
I drove in Germany for years thereafter, and never had an accident or got a ticket. I also got to push my stepfather’s Audi up to within 100 rpm of the redline on the Autobahn, topping out at about 145 mph. 
(But I still got passed by a Mercedes.)
Which makes me wonder what sign is used to warn drivers that they’re entering an area where snakes will, in fact, follow your car.
IME, yes. Could be the stricter testing, or could be the greater availabilty of other transit options, or both.
:eek: I think words are actually easier to read than picutres/funny road icons/whatever.
Come to think of it, the words can even make “better” (mental) pictures, like “Heavy Plant Crossing”. 
Don’t panic, folks: I don’t actually drive. I’m serious about preferring important signs to involve words though.