Dial "1" for Polish????????

..... apparently they are having bi-lingual problems in Scotland every bit as serious as ours here in the USA. From the Times of London:

Bad Polish drivers send cost of court translations soaring.....
Melanie ReidThey may be charming people and brilliant plumbers, but put them behind the wheel of a car and it seems that many Poles regard traffic regulations, if they regard them at all, as a challenge to be conquered.

You only have to look at the hair-raising Polish drivers’ video clips on YouTube to learn of their notoriety – and understand that there is something of a cultural chasm when it comes to road safety.

The growth in the number of Polish immigrants committing road traffic offences now appears to be the main reason behind a 300 per cent rise in the cost of supplying interpreters to the Scottish courts.

The biggest rise is in Aberdeen, where the cost of translating in court has risen by 1,200 per cent in the past three years, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Press and Journal.

The increase – from £2,000 in 2003-04 to £26,000 last year – was described as astonishing by the Tories. The translation service for court appearances now costs taxpayers £653,000 a year, compared with £167,000 three years ago.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that traffic offences are the most common cases requiring interpreters.

Bill Aitken, the Tories’ Scottish justice spokesman, said: “It’s clear that the road traffic laws in Poland and elsewhere are not nearly so strict as in the UK. Our guests from Eastern Europe in particular are going to have to learn that the laws apply just as much to them as they do to the rest of us.”

I remember back in the '60's I spent three years in Scotland and it were two years afore I could ken what my neighbor were sayin'! Now why would Polish immigrants have a problem with these clear traffic signs. By the way, that sign on the lower left means that there might be slow traffic ahead.