Florida hurries to scrap law requiring permits for foreign drivers

Reuters ^ | 2013-03-20 | Bill Cotterell

[Clive]

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. -
Embarrassed Florida legislators, worried about losing millions of dollars in tourism revenue from Canadian visitors, are hurrying to scrap a new state law requiring visitors from other countries to get international driving permits.

“The intentions were righteous, but the unintended consequences were greater than anyone thought they would be,” said Representative Daniel Davis, who sponsored the effort to repeal the proposal.

The law, in effect since Jan. 1, has turned thousands of unwitting foreign tourists into illegal drivers.

Officials said the aim of the law was intended to ensure all drivers in Florida held a license translated into English, but many frequent visitors from Canada, England and other English-speaking countries have visited the state without realizing they needed the documentation.

International driving permits are translated into 10 languages, allowing police to verify foreign driving licenses.

The new law touched off a backlash in Canada, which accounts for about 3.6 million Florida tourists every year.

The Canadian Automobile Association warned its members that insurers may not pay claims for any accident they have while driving without the permit in Florida.

Visitors from Britain, which sends 1.3 million tourists to Florida annually, were also required to get the one-year special driving permit under the soon-to-be-nullified law, even though their licenses were already written in English.

The state Senate Transportation Committee gave routine preliminary approval on Tuesday to a bill repealing the measure.

It will get a final vote next Wednesday and will be sent to Governor Rick Scott, who has indicated he supported scrapping the law.

The Florida House voted 116-0 last week to repeal it.

Davis, a Republican from Jacksonville, said drivers whose licenses are not in English will not need international permits once the law is repealed.

Besides offending visitors from important tourism markets, a legislative staff analysis said the current law may be unconstitutional under provisions of a 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, which the United States signed.

[Clive]

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[rrrod]

Canadians are not the problem!

[Clive]

OOPs, posting error:

The first paragraph should have read as follows:

Embarrassed Florida legislators, worried about losing millions of dollars in tourism revenue from Canadian visitors, are hurrying to scrap a new state law requiring visitors from other countries to get international driving permits.

[Moonman62]

French Canadians are. I’m sure there are one or two nice ones, though.

[rrrod]

LOL LOL !!! ya got me there.
We rent our place out for 4 months a year. Sometimes to Canadians. Then we come down to Colombia. Works out well.

[BfloGuy]

For Pete's sake. All they had to do was pass a law that stated drivers' licenses had to be in English.

But noooooooo. That wouldn't satisfy the lawyers in the legislature who obviously decided a more complicated bill must be passed.

And this is the result. Cretins.

[knarf]

All Canada has to do is get the information out to all travelers (could be done at the border), have a couple of forms of ID with you, telephone bill etc., and when a Fla cop stops them and sees a Can license, just ask to see another or two other pieces of ID.

Now ... if your name is Achmed and you have no other ID but A Kanadien lisense ... I think it's safe to pull mohamud in and hold him until after spring break .... 2045.

[Squawk 8888]

Thanks Clive.

To all- please ping me to Canadian topics.

Canada Ping!

[familyop]

It’s the height of politically correct stupidity to require as much from Canadians for visits or immigration as people from countries of cultures much different from ours. Assimilating people of cultures very different from ours is more expensive in several ways.

Immigration is also being pushed too far toward pecuniary considerations (money issues, slavery, etc.) and away from immigrants who like America and want to be Americans (those married to Americans, attracted to the best of American culture, and so on). Early America didn’t favor dollars for antagonists. It favored potential great Americans.

[Clive]

The issue is not an immigration one, it is a tourism one occasioned by a statute that required that non-US drivers show an international driver's permit. Apparently the desire is to help police officers who may not know the language of the tourist's permit.

Canadians are a significant source of Florida tourism revenue. They have been visiting Florida for many decades armed only with a driver's permit from their home province. During those many decades this practice has not apparently been a problem for constables doing a traffic stop. I cannot say the same for drivers from other nations considering the large number of official languages in the world.

There is a tourist destination in Florida that is a favourite destination for francophone Canadians (e.g Quebecois). This municipality (Hollywood FL) and the merchants in it are very welcoming of Canadian francophone tourists.

Since 9/11, the US has not considered an ordinary Canadian driver's permit to be sufficient to allow the driver entry into the US. Ontario drivers can now get an enhanced driver's permit which can be used to cross into the US in lieu of having to obtain a passport. It requires a more thorough identification process as part of the issuing process than does the ordinary driver's permit.

Issues about the right to be in the US or in Canada is a Federal matter in each country, not a State or Provincial matter as your Obama administration has loudly insisted in its dealings with Arizona. In effect, the Obama administration appears to be telling the States, Arizona in particular to keep hands off immigration enforcement.