ATLANTA – State Representative BJ Pak (R-Lilburn) today successfully offered an amendment to House Bill 72, legislation originally requiring that oral and written examinations for Georgia drivers’ licenses be given in English only. Rep. Pak amended this legislation so that Georgia drivers’ license examinations would require that the test include at least five questions that gauge a person’s ability to read warning signs in English.
“I believe the amendment would test the ability of the driver to accurately understand the message in digital billboards, which are in English. This should address the public safety concerns over whether the driver can comprehend the emergency messages,” said Rep. Pak.
The original version of HB 72 required oral and written examinations for drivers’ licenses issued to citizens and permanent residents of Georgia be given only in English. However, it included an exception that allowed examinations for temporary licenses or permits to be given in languages other than English, which left the same public safety concerns that the bill was originally intended to address. Those residents receiving a temporary license or permit by examination in another language would only be able to use that license for up to ten years. Once the ten-year period elapsed, they would be required to take the license examination in English. Representative Pak’s amendment ensured that all drivers would be able to comprehend the messages in the Department of Transportation’s digital billboards that transmit dangerous conditions.
Under its amended form, HB 72 would now require the Department of Driver Services to add five new questions to the oral and written examinations for drivers’ licenses issued to citizens and permanent residents of Georgia by no later than January 1, 2012. These five questions must necessitate an ability to read warning signs in English that are more than three words long. For example, these warning sign questions might include phrases like, “use caution hazardous conditions ahead.” The questions could also include signs that provide alert information regarding criminal abductions.
For more information on HB 72, please click here.
Representative BJ Pak represents the citizens of District 102, which includes portions of Gwinnett County. He was elected into the House of Representatives in 2010, and is currently serving on the Health & Human Services, Judiciary Non-Civil, and the Code Revision committees.
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