Posted on 06/06/2007 6:41:56 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3
Troopers Pull Over Man Who Speaks Only Russian
GREENWOOD, Neb. -- The Nebraska State Patrol stopped a truck driver who only speaks Russian, and told him he can go no further until he learns the language, Omaha TV station KETV reported.
"Sir, I need your papers. I need your papers. All of your papers. Log book, registration, yes," a trooper said during a truck safety stop operation near Greenwood.
The trucker had all his documents in order and a valid commercial driver's license, but he couldn't communicate with state troopers. Under the law, troopers were forced to make the driver park his truck and take him out of service.
They talked to his boss on the phone.
"You need to tell your driver he is out of service until he can understand English," Trooper Jeremy Radford told the boss over the telephone.
The driver was still obviously confused and tried to drive away.
Troopers said they are having more and more problems with language barriers.
Federal regulations said that commercial drivers should be able to read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public. But 17 states and the District of Columbia offer the commercial driver's license test in foreign languages.
Nance Harris of the Nebraska Trucking Association said there's a reason some trucking companies are hiring professional drivers from out of the country.
"Current estimates are that we have a shortage of about 30,000 drivers," Harris said. "It isn't a question of them not understanding the trucking industry or safe driving. They simply need some time to be more conversant in English."
Troopers said the citation has entirely to do with safety because commercial drivers need to be able to read all signs and traffic warnings, especially driving a rig that weighs about 80,000 pounds.
The trucker was stranded at the weigh station until he could find a ride, or for someone from his company to come pick him up along with his truck. Troopers said they will help him do that, but said some drivers have waited at the weigh station for as long as three days for someone to come get them.
That is the whole truth.
I would say there in is the problem, it should be against the law for a truck driver to be ask to load are unload freight. I don't want to be on the road with a driver that just spent six hours unloading a truck and logged it as off duty time.
I do understand though you can get software that will type in other languages ....but I guess you have to know that language .....
I have one, VPS Keys, that allows me to type in Vietnamese. It is pretty easy to learn and use.
CSPAN 2 now, voting on English official language amendment and other amendments.
:-)
Thanks for the translation! My very limited Russian can pick-out a couple of words in there.
If he was driving this pimped out Russian truck, the State Patrol would be too afraid to stop him.
“It isn’t a question of them not understanding the trucking industry or safe driving. They simply need some time to be more conversant in English.”
They couldn’t even understand “we want your papers”. So how in the heck can they read and understand the road signs?? How can they understand our road rules? Our families are unsafe on our roads as long as non english speaking people are allowed to drive here.
I would never ever attempt to go to say...germany, rent a car and just start driving!!!
Warum nicht?
No, 3 is for Chinese. Haven't you ever tried calling Walmart? LOL!
Federal regulations said that commercial drivers should be able to read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public. But 17 states and the District of Columbia offer the commercial driver’s license test in foreign languages.
“inside delivery charges”? I’d love to get my hands on one of those guys. We get them fairly often - they walk up to the loading dock door waving the freight bill in front of them. They’re Russians and South Americans. It makes me wonder what kind of idiot would hire an OTR driver that can’t read the signs on the highway.
“You must think in Russian....think in Russian!”
[`Skaiytiye vpyoredi raketyii!’ ]
WHOOOOOOOOOSH!! BOOM!!!
Sure glad I only had to live there (USSR) a few months.
Roadway.
What were you doing there?
A friend of mine spent a year there as a student in undergrad.
If you are aware enough to be able to read English words and understand what they mean then you should be able to muster more of a defense than just, "I don't know how to speak your language."
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