WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — A statewide policy requiring driver’s license exams to be administered in English only went into effect Friday, ending years of accommodations for applicants whose primary or only language is Spanish or Creole.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles announced the policy change last week, saying the state no longer will provide translation services or printed exams in any language other than English. And it said the new policy applies to all driver license classifications, including oral exams.
But Friday’s start was marked with questions about the change.
The Miami-Dade County Tax Collector’s Office said in a news release that — in collaboration with the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles — there would be a limited 60-day transition period for customers taking their driver’s exams who scheduled their appointments before the change took effect Friday. During this transition period in Miami-Dade, which ends March 31, eligible customers could complete their driver’s exam in Spanish.
Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Friday afternoon that the English-only test approach was implemented by her office on Friday. But she noted how it’s been a confusing process.
Gannon cited an flhsmv.gov email, dated Thursday afternoon, that was forwarded to some tax collectors on Friday. The email indicated that the English-only automated driver’s license testing system wasn’t being “immediately deployed.” It also said that “the current process, which allows multiple testing languages, will remain in effect until further notice. Additional updates will be provided as the review progresses.”
Based on that, Gannon said her office on Monday would plan to stick with the current process of multiple testing languages until there’s further guidance from the state.
Making a change
The English-only test change was pursued after semi-tractor-trailer driver Harjinder Singh, a native of India, was arrested in August. He was accused of attempting a U-turn on Florida’s Turnpike in St. Lucie County that led to a crash that killed three people.
Bodycam footage shows Singh understands English, but he is not in the country legally, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Most undocumented immigrants in Florida are from Latin America, where the primary language is Spanish. Another 83,000 unauthorized immigrants speak Creole at home, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Migration Policy Institute.
Immigration advocates have expressed mixed feelings about the policy for English-only tests, recognizing the need for drivers to know and read English while also showing concern over what they deem as a growing hostility toward non-English speakers.
Jose Lopez, 48, an immigrant from Argentina who was waiting Friday afternoon for a road test at the FLHSMV office in Pembroke Pines, said he took the written test in Spanish and was comfortable taking the road test in English.
“Road signs are international,” he said. “A stop sign here looks like a stop sign in Argentina with a different word on it. But I understand the desire to make sure we can read the words on the signs.”
The St. Lucie County crash is also tied to legislation that, in part, would require law-enforcement officers to take into custody truck drivers who are determined to be undocumented immigrants and help transfer them to federal immigration officials. Also, it would require impounding trucks driven by undocumented immigrants who are taken into custody and imposing $50,000 fines on the vehicles’ owners.