Friday, December 16, 2005

Farm workers' poor driving skills threaten road safety

Fresno State raised state and federal funds and partnered with the CHP to develop posters, board games and a video to provide basic training on American road rules. We all want to have the people next to us on the highways be trained to drive here, don't we? I know I do. This program sounds like it will help all of us. DP

By JULIANA BARBASSA, Associated Press Writer
The Sacramento Bee:
Farm workers know when an orange is ripe for picking or how to prune a peach tree, but many have poor driving skills, which puts everyone's lives at risk, road safety experts said Wednesday.

"A lot of them just don't know how to drive," said Abel Serrano, one of about 20 farm labor contractors and farm representatives who came to Visalia to hear about the Farm Worker Motor Vehicle Safety program developed by the California State University, Fresno.

Many farm workers are recent immigrants who can't read road signs in English and didn't start driving until arriving in California's farm belt. Often, they're undocumented and can't apply for driver's licenses or take a driver's education class, said Bert Mason, a professor of agricultural economics at Fresno State who helped develop the program.

Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.

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