Watch your language

I find THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE commentary posted in the Austin American Statesman interesting and alarming, although a bit biased. I agree that the Dallas police officers that have recently been citing drivers (you tube video From CNN) for not speaking English an ignorant mistake, which indeed raises some concern for the need of extra training. Some training on law, and yes, if you are a police officer in the state of Texas, maybe you should take some Spanish classes, especially since the largest minority is Latino. But isn't it a safety concern if someone is driving in the US and can't speak english? How can you expect to obide by traffic signs if you can't read them? Maybe you recognize most of the more common signs by shapes or colors, but I've seen some very unique construction and warning signs. I know if I went to Germany right now, not knowing a single word besides "brotwierst" (spelling check?... please allow some sarcasm here!!), I would be in trouble if I was behind the wheel. If you are going to live here, I think you "should" learn the language, but if you are going to drive in the US, you NEED to learn English ASAP. There is a reason it is a law for commercial drivers, and it should be the same for any driver, safety. It is alarming that our rookie officers don't know the very law they are trying to uphold, but I can also see their frustration, and have seen too many "Cops" episodes where the driver clearly is trying to avoid a ticket by not speaking English because he all of the sudden knows the language when he/she gets put in the back of the patrol car. I can see where it seems racist, and there is definitely a lack of training, but consider this: what if you got in an accident and couldn't give important life saving information about you or your loved ones in the vehicle to EMS or the Fire Deparment?