New Jersey Requires DUI / Drunk Driving Warnings To Be In Foreign Language

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The New Jersey Supreme Court recently held that a Spanish speaking driver arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving should have had the requirements that he submit to a breath test and the consequences for refusing to submit read to him in Spanish.

As a result, his DUI / Drunk Driving conviction was overturned. After the driver was arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving, the police read a statement requiring a breath test and the consequences of refusing to the driver in English.

However, at trial, the driver testified through an interpreter he did not understand. According to a spokesman for the New Jersey Attorney General’s office, there are over 150 different languages spoken in New Jersey. However, there are nine foreign languages spoken which accounts for 90% of foreign languages that are translated in court for DUI / Drunk Driving cases.