Alabama's drivers' license testing policy in the news again

[Harold Schiffman]

Safe-driving policies
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Huntsville Times

The state should not create a new category of unlicensed drivers

Some things in the public arena are not what they seem. Thus, opinions
or positions based on erroneous assumptions have to be discarded. So
it is with the proposal of a state senator to pass a law requiring
that Alabama driver's-license tests be given only in English. At
present, the state gives the tests in 12 languages, including Thai,
Russian, and Chinese, as well as Spanish and others.
Sen. Scott Beason, a Republican from Gardendale, says his proposal is
made necessary by a ruling in October by the Alabama Supreme Court. It
upheld the state's multilanguage testing policy.

Beason says the proposal is consistent with the intent of a
constitutional amendment ratified by the voters in 1990 making English
the state's official language. He also says it's part of a package
dealing with illegal immigration. But not so fast. Under Alabama law,
an illegal immigrant cannot apply or be given a driver's license.
Thus, any law to change the current practice would be targeting other
languages, not people who are here unlawfully. Government, state or
federal, cannot force people to speak English. People cannot be denied
basic rights because they don't speak English, although clearly it's
in their interest to learn the language. But isn't a driver's license
a privilege, not a right? Why issue driver's licenses to people who
don't speak English?

Because it's apparent that to get a driver's license, a person has to
be able to drive a car safely and has to understand the laws and rules
pertaining to driving. To keep non-English speakers from obtaining
licenses is to create a whole class of unlicensed drivers, many of
whom will probably not have insurance, either. That's not to say the
state can't limit licenses to English speakers - legally it can - but
the state has valid reasons for doing otherwise. If people are going
to drive anyway, a license test might screen out some of those who
shouldn't be on the road.

Sen. Beason makes one good point: Safe driving depends at least to
some extent on people being able to read road signs, which are
invariably in English. But nothing prevents the state from making sure
non-English speakers understand the written language enough to read
"Stop," "Yield," "No Turn on Red" and so forth. If the state doesn't
do that now, it should.

Beyond party

Lest anyone conclude otherwise, the licensing issue transcends party
and ideology. The state Supreme Court is made up of eight Republicans
and one Democrat. The multilanguage policy, scrapped in 1991, was
reinstated by a Democratic governor, Don Siegelman, under a court
order in 1996. Five years later, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the
state to limit the test to English, but Gov. Bob Riley's
administration kept the multilanguage policy.

Clearly, the professionals in the Department of Public Safety have
reasons for doing what they've done. In the absence of evidence to the
contrary, the public must let them do their jobs. Illegal immigration
is one issue. Driver's license tests are another issue altogether.


By John Ehinger, for the editorial board. E-mail: john.ehinger at htimes.com


-- http://www.al.com/opinion/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/opinion/119684984321800.xml&coll=1
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