HB461

This action would be highly unfair to all those whose primary language is different than English. Please oppose this Bill.

Dear Representatives of the Transportation Committee, It is my understanding that your role is to help make transportation as safe as possible in our state. Having every driver take an exam is part of that process. Whether they take a written exam in English or another language, does not impact whether the person will be a good driver. Even when a person speaks good English, exams in English are much more challenging. Lets vote NO on this bill and yes for safety of all drivers. Thank you.

It is reasonable to have materials in other languages. Naturalized people or folks who are here for reasons that include employment or education need to be able to drive to navigate NH successfully. It is safer to have people have access to needed materials in a primary language.

The US quite intentionally does not have an official language. While New Hampshire may have designated English as such, this is an unnecessary cultural barrier which marginalizes people residing in this country - even those who live here legally. I can think of many that are here legally who do not speak English natively. They are good people who came here, followed the rules, acquiesced to the law, and still find English difficult. I work in a pseudo-regulatory field. In our field, we often find ourselves bound with red tape, so to speak, which ends up being more harmful than helpful. This is an example of such a case. As someone who also works in a large, multi-national company with locations all over the globe as part of a team where I am only 1 of 5 native English speakers - I have found very few problems that cannot be resolved or supported by readily accessible tools such as Google Translate.

We are the Live Free or Die state. That is our motto, that is our chant. How is this anything other than taking away someone's freedom to live life as they choose? How does it harm anyone else if they choose to perform an exam in a language other than English? Say no to efforts to curtail our personal liberties.

We're all safer on the roads if people have access to information they can understand. Please oppose HB461.

this is a safety issue, the words on the test aren't the test.

More discrimination attempts coded into law by the GOP.

The United States has no official language. Requiring driving materials to be only available in English is discrimination.

This is racist.

We do not speak ONLY English. This bill is a waste of taxpayers time and resources. Republican lawmakers need to stop wasting time with these asinine bills.

This bill supports occlusion and I'm all for equality.

There is absolutely no reason to accommodate language barriers and differences. The United States does not have an official language. English is the most widely used language in the U.S., and some states designate it as their official language. People in the U.S. communicate in more than 350 languages. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, some of the most widely spoken languages other than English are Spanish, French, Tagalog, Vietnamese and more. People in the U.S. also speak Native North American languages such as Navajo, Yupik, Dakota, Apache, Keres, and Cherokee, among others. Limiting drivers test to only English or ASL is an unnecessary step and should be considered as arbitrary and limiting to Americans. As no all American citizens speak English.

We are all safer on the roads if driver exams and examination-related materials can be accessed in the language a driver is most comfortable with. Accessing these materials in a language other than English doesn't preclude test takers from learning and demonstrating knowledge of the rules they need to know to be safe drivers. In fact, this kind of accessibility does exactly the opposite. Please support accessibility. Please support road safety. Please oppose this bill.

We should not be creating barriers for people to be gaining licenses or certifications by excluding other languages. This country is a melting pot of diversity and that is what makes us wonderful, strong and powerful. To disregard this is shameful. New Hampshire is a state that also has a multicultural history (despite its shocking lack of diversity compared to the rest of the country) with also dual language --French! --. I oppose this bill!

Totally oppose. Even back in the '60s when I got my license in MA they offered the test in several languages.

I am absolutely against this!

In order to promote public safety, we should do what we reasonably can to communicate with people who have business with the government in a language with which they are proficient.

Written testing exam should be available in the language of choice as reading and verbal communication are not the same and reading language comprehension takes far more education than to be able to communicate orally for a drivers exam.

English only materials at the DMV will make our roads less safe. People who speak many languages need to be able to read and understand the driving regulations here. The purpose of the DMV is to ensure that people know how to drive safely on our streets, not to enforce a language preference.

Transportation is so important for people who work or live in areas where there is no public transport or public transport doesn't go far enough or the right times of day, which is true of even our bigger cities like Nashua. People can read road signs and traffic directions safely but still find it difficult to understand a complicated written test. This would be a hindrance to people with English as a second language who are trying to be productive and assimilate.

Driving is often necessary in our state in order for people to be successful in life. Life is hard enough, don't make it worse for people.

Another attempt at "othering". There are many people here in New Hampshire whose English might not be great and have trouble understanding what's required. This bill would be an impediment to a non-English speaking resident having good and proper training when learning to drive, putting all of us at risk on the roads.

If this bill passes, the result will be more unlicensed drivers on our highways.