你跟他们学过开车吗？
该文讲述在大多地区有些教车师傅本身就不是一个交通规则遵守者，有些人已被扣7点了。对他们的指控有超速等。
Driving schools break rules
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...089&call_pageid=968350130169&col=969483202845
Sep. 18, 2006. 10:15 AM
JESSICA LEEDER AND ROBERT CRIBB
STAFF REPORTERS
The rules of the road are being taught by dozens of driving instructors in Ontario who routinely break the rules themselves.
More than 30 driving instructors in Toronto have racked up a pile of bylaw convictions, some with thousands of dollars in unpaid fines. Others have a string of speeding tickets and driving offences.
And still more have triggered an array of student complaints, ranging from roadside abandonment of students to using profanities and screaming at students during lessons.
The instructors continue teaching students as young as 16 because the provincial regulatory system is lax and prone to abuse, a Toronto Star investigation has found.
Hundreds of complaints a year about driving instructors' behaviour are made to provincial and city officials. In one case, a Scarborough instructor has had 19 formal complaints lodged against him by students over the past seven years ― mainly regarding his treatment of female students. He received a minor penalty following a city hearing into the allegations.
Dozens of instructors are routinely convicted of breaking Toronto bylaws involving driving instructors, including helping students cheat on road tests. Many refuse to pay their fines. Two brothers from Scarborough, for example, continue to hold provincial teaching licences despite having nearly $6,000 in unpaid fines for breaching bylaws.
The province allows people who have what industry experts consider bad driving records to teach new drivers. For example, a Markham driving instructor with seven demerit points from five separate speeding convictions continues to operate.
Yanti Koesmo, 34, says she had such a bad experience with her instructor in 2002 she gave up on getting her licence.
Once she had paid $150 for an initial lesson, she says, the instructor began demanding more money for hidden fees. When she tried to get out of the lessons, he refused to reimburse her.
"I'm having doubts about going to another driving school," says the Scarborough resident, who filed a complaint with the city. "If you sign up for these little schools, you never know their reputation."
The province has a buyer-beware approach to driving schools ― it has no authority to shut them down, even those with repeated complaints against them. The ministry cracks down on individual driving instructors only when they reach eight demerit points.
"There has to be a heavier hand brought to bear when you have gross violations," says Mark Yakabuski, a vice-president with the Insurance Bureau of Canada, whose members grant rate discounts to drivers who complete training courses.
Without changes, he says, "the whole system of driver education and its credibility is going to be undermined."
Several instructors interviewed by the Star who have long lists of driving or bylaw convictions said their own driving records have no bearing on their ability to teach.
But internal studies by the Insurance Bureau show that "major quality problems" with driver instruction are compromising road safety, Yakabuski says. "A lot of people graduating from driver training programs are not as competent as they should be."
Despite repeated requests, the ministry would provide no records to show it has ever suspended or revoked the licence of a driving instructor since it began overseeing the industry in 1999. Officials said the ministry "does not track" the number of revocations.
"There is a problem here. We need to fix it," provincial Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield said in an interview last week. "There is some due diligence required on the part of the municipalities and the province."
She said about six driving students a week complain to the ministry about problems they encounter with driving schools.
"It's a lot," Cansfield said. "I think there's some really good schools out there and there's no question there are some really poor schools out there."
John Svensson, head of the Driving School Association of Ontario ― which helped regulate the industry until the province took over in the late 1990s ― says the system created by the province has "gaping holes."
Among them is an overly lenient approach to instructors with driving convictions.
Several instructors whose driving records were reviewed by the Star had speeding and other Highway Traffic Act convictions.
In one case, a driving instructor was caught driving 99 km/h in a 50 km/h zone. Another was convicted for doing 141 km/h and 140 km/h in a 100 km/h area on two separate occasions.
But none has hit the provincial limit of eight demerit points, a ceiling experts say is too high and risks public safety.
Three demerit points on an instructor's record should be a "yellow flag," says Scott Marshall, director of training for Young Drivers of Canada. Any more than that is a "red flag" that signals students' safety is being put at risk, he says.
John LeFeuvre, president of Canadian Pro Drivers, which offers training to would-be driving teachers, says the province's 5,509 instructors should be role models on the road.
"When you start getting up there (in demerit points), that's fairly dangerous. Something should be done," he says.
Cansfield agrees that provincial demerit-point allowances are "too loose" ― a problem she says her ministry must address with new regulations. She hopes to have them in place by early next year.
"People aren't going to get away with this. We're going to deal with it. I think that people in Ontario, Toronto, Wawa or Windsor deserve to know they have the best people on the roads. ... I'm suggesting that we want to raise the bar."
One of the problems the Star found is that while the city and province both play a monitoring role, they don't share information about instructors.
Even those with dozens of municipal bylaw convictions and thousands in unpaid fines have little trouble renewing their provincial teaching licences every three years. Provincial officials don't check municipal records ― though they're easily available through a province-run database ― before letting instructors return to the road.
"The left hand does not know what the right hand is doing," says Richard Mucha, manager of licensing services for the City of Toronto.
Cansfield agrees co-ordination is lacking.
"I think that's where it's our responsibility to get together and clean this up. And we will do that," she says.
Many of the Toronto instructors with a high number of bylaw convictions work at schools the ministry website recommends to new students.
Provincial law allows anyone to open a school, regardless of experience or background, as long as it employs licensed instructors. The school can become "ministry-approved" if it offers courses approved by ministry staff.
Approved schools undergo an initial start-up inspection and random audits. Last year, 52 schools were found to be in "varying degrees of non-compliance" with ministry course material. Thirty-two more have been identified for non-compliance so far this year.
However, the ministry has no power to close schools that refuse to comply.
"I think the lights have gone on in terms of recognizing this as a problem," says the Insurance Bureau's Yakabuski. "We need stronger tools quickly to make sure that these people either play by the rules or don't play at all."
DALE BRAZAO/TORONTO STAR
Muhammad Yousaf, president of A Allsafe Pro Drivers, faced student complaints at a 2004 hearing.
该文讲述在大多地区有些教车师傅本身就不是一个交通规则遵守者，有些人已被扣7点了。对他们的指控有超速等。
Driving schools break rules
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...089&call_pageid=968350130169&col=969483202845
Sep. 18, 2006. 10:15 AM
JESSICA LEEDER AND ROBERT CRIBB
STAFF REPORTERS
The rules of the road are being taught by dozens of driving instructors in Ontario who routinely break the rules themselves.
More than 30 driving instructors in Toronto have racked up a pile of bylaw convictions, some with thousands of dollars in unpaid fines. Others have a string of speeding tickets and driving offences.
And still more have triggered an array of student complaints, ranging from roadside abandonment of students to using profanities and screaming at students during lessons.
The instructors continue teaching students as young as 16 because the provincial regulatory system is lax and prone to abuse, a Toronto Star investigation has found.
Hundreds of complaints a year about driving instructors' behaviour are made to provincial and city officials. In one case, a Scarborough instructor has had 19 formal complaints lodged against him by students over the past seven years ― mainly regarding his treatment of female students. He received a minor penalty following a city hearing into the allegations.
Dozens of instructors are routinely convicted of breaking Toronto bylaws involving driving instructors, including helping students cheat on road tests. Many refuse to pay their fines. Two brothers from Scarborough, for example, continue to hold provincial teaching licences despite having nearly $6,000 in unpaid fines for breaching bylaws.
The province allows people who have what industry experts consider bad driving records to teach new drivers. For example, a Markham driving instructor with seven demerit points from five separate speeding convictions continues to operate.
Yanti Koesmo, 34, says she had such a bad experience with her instructor in 2002 she gave up on getting her licence.
Once she had paid $150 for an initial lesson, she says, the instructor began demanding more money for hidden fees. When she tried to get out of the lessons, he refused to reimburse her.
"I'm having doubts about going to another driving school," says the Scarborough resident, who filed a complaint with the city. "If you sign up for these little schools, you never know their reputation."
The province has a buyer-beware approach to driving schools ― it has no authority to shut them down, even those with repeated complaints against them. The ministry cracks down on individual driving instructors only when they reach eight demerit points.
"There has to be a heavier hand brought to bear when you have gross violations," says Mark Yakabuski, a vice-president with the Insurance Bureau of Canada, whose members grant rate discounts to drivers who complete training courses.
Without changes, he says, "the whole system of driver education and its credibility is going to be undermined."
Several instructors interviewed by the Star who have long lists of driving or bylaw convictions said their own driving records have no bearing on their ability to teach.
But internal studies by the Insurance Bureau show that "major quality problems" with driver instruction are compromising road safety, Yakabuski says. "A lot of people graduating from driver training programs are not as competent as they should be."
Despite repeated requests, the ministry would provide no records to show it has ever suspended or revoked the licence of a driving instructor since it began overseeing the industry in 1999. Officials said the ministry "does not track" the number of revocations.
"There is a problem here. We need to fix it," provincial Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield said in an interview last week. "There is some due diligence required on the part of the municipalities and the province."
She said about six driving students a week complain to the ministry about problems they encounter with driving schools.
"It's a lot," Cansfield said. "I think there's some really good schools out there and there's no question there are some really poor schools out there."
John Svensson, head of the Driving School Association of Ontario ― which helped regulate the industry until the province took over in the late 1990s ― says the system created by the province has "gaping holes."
Among them is an overly lenient approach to instructors with driving convictions.
Several instructors whose driving records were reviewed by the Star had speeding and other Highway Traffic Act convictions.
In one case, a driving instructor was caught driving 99 km/h in a 50 km/h zone. Another was convicted for doing 141 km/h and 140 km/h in a 100 km/h area on two separate occasions.
But none has hit the provincial limit of eight demerit points, a ceiling experts say is too high and risks public safety.
Three demerit points on an instructor's record should be a "yellow flag," says Scott Marshall, director of training for Young Drivers of Canada. Any more than that is a "red flag" that signals students' safety is being put at risk, he says.
John LeFeuvre, president of Canadian Pro Drivers, which offers training to would-be driving teachers, says the province's 5,509 instructors should be role models on the road.
"When you start getting up there (in demerit points), that's fairly dangerous. Something should be done," he says.
Cansfield agrees that provincial demerit-point allowances are "too loose" ― a problem she says her ministry must address with new regulations. She hopes to have them in place by early next year.
"People aren't going to get away with this. We're going to deal with it. I think that people in Ontario, Toronto, Wawa or Windsor deserve to know they have the best people on the roads. ... I'm suggesting that we want to raise the bar."
One of the problems the Star found is that while the city and province both play a monitoring role, they don't share information about instructors.
Even those with dozens of municipal bylaw convictions and thousands in unpaid fines have little trouble renewing their provincial teaching licences every three years. Provincial officials don't check municipal records ― though they're easily available through a province-run database ― before letting instructors return to the road.
"The left hand does not know what the right hand is doing," says Richard Mucha, manager of licensing services for the City of Toronto.
Cansfield agrees co-ordination is lacking.
"I think that's where it's our responsibility to get together and clean this up. And we will do that," she says.
Many of the Toronto instructors with a high number of bylaw convictions work at schools the ministry website recommends to new students.
Provincial law allows anyone to open a school, regardless of experience or background, as long as it employs licensed instructors. The school can become "ministry-approved" if it offers courses approved by ministry staff.
Approved schools undergo an initial start-up inspection and random audits. Last year, 52 schools were found to be in "varying degrees of non-compliance" with ministry course material. Thirty-two more have been identified for non-compliance so far this year.
However, the ministry has no power to close schools that refuse to comply.
"I think the lights have gone on in terms of recognizing this as a problem," says the Insurance Bureau's Yakabuski. "We need stronger tools quickly to make sure that these people either play by the rules or don't play at all."
DALE BRAZAO/TORONTO STAR
Muhammad Yousaf, president of A Allsafe Pro Drivers, faced student complaints at a 2004 hearing.
