Posted on 02/14/2013 7:41:12 AM PST by Squawk 8888
Canadians now require an international driving permit in addition to their provincial licences while driving in Florida after a state law quietly went into effect on New Year’s Day.
With March break just weeks away, CAA is alerting motorists about the change as it lobbies Florida state lawmakers to exclude Canadians from the rule, which applies to all non-U.S. residents. It is estimated that millions of Canadians visit Florida each year.
Florida passed the law so that its law-enforcement officials would not encounter driver’s licence documents in languages they could not read, according to CAA.
Despite its position on the law, CAA is urging Canadians to acquire an IDP if they plan to drive in Florida, be it in their own vehicle or a rental vehicle.
An IDP is a special driver’s licence that allows licensed motorists to drive in other countries without additional road tests or applications, and is proof that the holder possesses a valid licence in his or her home country, according to the Canadian government.
The IDP, which is translated into multiple languages, must be accompanied by a valid driver’s licence. The document is valid in all countries that have signed the 1949 Convention on Road Traffic and is recognized in many other countries.
Motorists can obtain an IDP at any CAA office for $25. CAA is the only organization in Canada that is authorized to issue the document.
Road signs throughout Ontario will be bilingual in both French and English.
In Quebec, they will only be in French.
Yup. It’s in the same place where Americans have to acknowledge that every modern vehicle HAS turn signals... ;)
I used to hang out on alt.sysadmin.recovery back in the day. A brit got a job in the Boston area and expressed concern about driving in the U.S.A.
Another admin advised him: “Just use your turn indicator once a year and you’ll fit right in.”
A Brit or an Aussie has to remember to drive right side.
Americans who travel to the US Virgin Islands forget to drive left even though almost all the cars there are left hand drive. :)
Yes I visited USVI and that is a unique situation for sure.
But they did have dirt cheap gasoline, even if there wasn’t very far you could drive. But that was back before they closed HOVENSA.
Busiest highway in North America. Look it up.
That is only so you can get back into the U.S. It has nothing to do with entry into Canada.
And how hard is it to read someone's name, as long as it's not written in Cyrillic or something?
LOL, some of us do.
This past week alone, I saw 6 Canadian motorists who were pulled over for speeding.
62 mph in a 50 mph zone. 43 mph in a 31 mph zone.
This is in Imperial for ease of understanding, but up here we understand that if you don't want a ticket, you don't do 100kmh in a 80kmh zone, or 70kmh in a 50 zone.
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