This article discussed the legislation that is going through Alabama regarding the number of languages that the driving test is offered in. A legislator wants it to only be offered in English, while it is currently offered in 14 languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Russian, Korean and Japanese. The main argument for a single test is that all road signs are in English and that giving individuals an opportunity to take the test in alternative languages creates a hazard on the road because they can't read it.
I personally agree that this is an important issue that we should tackle. The only problem I have with this argument is that in all of the sources I could find, none of them indicated how many accidents happened because of non-english speaking individuals. As such, I can't fully agree that the bill should be passed. Having hard evidence would make such a law relevant, but without it, it seems like taxpayer money is being wasted.
A final thought to extend a comment from an earlier post, how interesting would it be to create road signs in every language that they tested in? Wouldn't that be dangerous, wasteful, and unnecessary? Why don't they take that money and put it into programs that teach these individuals English instead? Okay, I'm done with my comments.
Original Article: http://www.clantonadvertiser.com/articles/2007/12/05/opinion/for_the_record/3-editorial.txt
Additional Source: http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20071204/TL02/71204004/1007
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