Not Speaking English Can Get You In Trouble

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If you are from US you could get cited for not speaking English!

I was told this very odd story by one of my ESL students and found it difficult to believe, but I am assured that it is true.

A Dallas woman was taking her grand daughter to school and she was stopped by police for making an illegal right turn. She received a citation (or a ticket, as we say here in UK). In the rush to get to the school on time the lady had also forgotten her driver’s licence and that led to a second citation.

That was not the end of it, though. The police officer also cited her for not speaking English. Apparently she is still learning. She thought it might be a Dallas state law that she was unaware of.

However, it turned out the officer was wrong. Driving a private vehicle when you cannot speak English is permitted in Dallas, but there is a national US law that makes it an offence to drive a commercial vehicle if you cannot speak English.

As far as I am aware we don’t have any such laws in UK but it may come to that if the National Identity card comes in and non nationals have to take citizenship tests which will include speaking basic English.

I did check this out on the internet and it seems that this has happened more than once.

Worldnewsvine.com

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