Driver’s license tests in Florida will be administered only in English starting Feb. 6, the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles announced Friday.
“This change applies to all driver license classifications, including exams administered orally,” said state officials in a news release.
Currently, exams for most non-commercial driver classifications are offered in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole.
The department has updated its driver’s license testing system statewide, and language-translation services won’t be allowed for knowledge or skills examinations, the release said.
READ MORE: A deadly truck crash in Florida has fueled an immigration fight. Here's what to know
The change comes as the Florida Senate has started moving forward with a proposal (SB 86) 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.
The bill is a response to semi-tractor trailer driver Harjinder Singh, a native of India, being arrested in August following a crash that allegedly stemmed from him attempting a U-turn on the turnpike in St. Lucie County. Three people died in the crash.
