International Driving Permit

A friend of mine from the Province of Quebec was stopped in the State of Georgia while driving his motorcycle on their way to Florida. It was a so called “routine stop” by the officer and was asked for his license and Insurance documents -- which he provided.

The officer rejected his produced Insurance documentation because they were only in French and told my friend that he would make arrangements for a taxi to take his wife to the nearest motel , his motorcycle seized, towed to a storage lot and he would be placed under arrest and incarcerated until he could produce the required documentation in English.

My friend asked what it would take to make this problem go away and (as ZihuaRob referred to in an earlier post) some Franklins came into play -- five of them (which was all he had on him at the time) and he was on his way.

I relayed that event to my brother who spent/spends time driving in Georgia and he opined that this is a risk for Quebec Snowbirds heading for Florida and driving through Georgia because Georgia requires automobile documents to be in English.

I never liked the laminated Driver Licenses. I preferred the folding paper ones where one could secrete a couple of “C” notes -- for emergency purposes only…...
Roberto!