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Britain

Turns out foreigners who can't speak the language can't read road signs either

2011-10-16

Road accidents way up, so Britain to stop giving road tests in foreign languages.

Transport minister Mike Penning told The Daily Telegraph he was working out how to implement a ban on foreign language tests without the new regulations falling foul of anti-discrimination legislation. 'I find it incredible that Labour thought it was a god idea to let people without a basis grasp of English loose on our roads,' he said.

A Department For Transport source said there had recently been a spate of crashes involving Polish-speaking drivers.

Government figures showed that last year around seven per cent of theory tests were taken in a foreign language - almost 19,000 of them were in Urdu, 13,000 in Polish and 298 in Albanian. For the practical tests 452 Romanians, 230 Russians and 21 Bulgarians used translators, while more than 1,500 bus drivers took a theory test in a foreign language.

According to transport officials other European countries do not routinely allow people to sit driving tests in foreign languages.

Posted by:trailing wife

#3 Lousy and dangerous drivers in Poland tend be like that in other countries too. This may not be a language problem. Modern countries should use driving simulators to test license applicants, not written tests.

Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-10-16 15:02

#2 I drove all over Europe (except in Britain - I'm not stupid) and never had a problem with the signs even in the countries where I didn't speak the language - and this was before the U.S. adopted universal signage.

Perhaps it's not the signs but the foreigners involved ....?

I'd also bet it has something to do - at least for the Poles - with the fact that the Brits drive on the wrong side of the road. That would have to be very confusing, particularly if you're driving a standard left-hand drive truck or car. I remember what it was like in Bermuda, and that was just on a scooter. I finally decided that if it looked "normal" to me, I was on the wrong side of the road for there, and started enjoying my ride.

"According to transport officials other European countries do not routinely allow people to sit driving tests in foreign languages."

Duh.

Posted by: Barbara 2011-10-16 12:35

#1 Kind of think this was the kind of thing a United Europe would have stream-lined long ago. Even a disunited Europe where travel was frequent should have created a more or less unified signage by now. Certainly there would be local differences (English and their round-abouts for example) but these would be minor and could be covered by brochures at the border (or the rental car place).

Posted by: rjschwarz 2011-10-16 09:25

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