Issues
Official English
Bilingual Education
English on the Job
Citizenship and
   Immigration
Bilingual Ballots
Puerto Rican
    Statehood
Ending E.O. 13166,
   the "Multilingual
   Mandate"

Contact us:
1601 N. Kent St.
Suite 1100
Arlington, VA
22209
ph: (703) 816-8821

Ala. could join states that require drivers know English
By Mike Linn, USA TODAY
Dec. 28, 2005

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A state judge could rule soon on whether Alabama must give driver's license exams only in English or can test potential motorists in 12 other languages as it has since 1998...

...Six states still require residents to take the written exams in English, says K.C. McAlpin, executive director of ProEnglish, an Arlington, Va.-based organization that supports laws or constitutional amendments declaring English the USA's official language. It also defends the rights of states to make English the official language of government operations.

"If somebody has come to this country knowing that English is the national language spoken here, they should expect ... to take the driver's license exam in that language," McAlpin says. He says drivers who can't read road signs in English endanger themselves and other motorists.

States began multilanguage driver's license exams in the 1960s and 1970s, mainly for Spanish-speaking families, McAlpin says.

This article has been exerpted from USA Today to comply with copyright laws. For the article in its entirety, please visit USA Today's web site (click here).