Women cab drivers soon on roads, courtesy Delhi Police

In the aftermath of the Dec 5 rape in a cab by its driver, the Delhi Police have selected 115 women from poor families to be trained to work as drivers with various cab services.

This initiative has been taken by officials of the north police district, one of the 11 in the national capital, under whose jurisdiction the recent rape of a woman executive by the driver of US-based Uber cab service took place. The news sent shock waves across the nation with the Dec 16, 2012 gang rape still fresh in public mind.

The accused Shiv Kumar Yadav, who was found to be a serial offender, was arrested and is currently lodged in Tihar jail.

"We have picked 115 women from various slums who are ready to become cab drivers in Delhi. These women will undergo three months of training and the first batch will begin soon," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Brijender Kumar Yadav told IANS.

"We have kept online booking services in the loop so that it would be easier for us to induct these trained women drivers at these cab companies. We will train them and in a way it would be a good platform for them to serve their family as well," he said.

After training, these women, aged between 18 and 25 years, will be issued driving licences and licences for commercial vehicles from the transport authority.

Once the training and certification is complete, the companies will interview them and would hire them accordingly.

Yadav also told IANS that the companies had told police that the working women feel more "secure" while travelling in a vehicle driven by a woman.

Only six cab services - Easy Cab, Mega Cab, Meru Cab, Chanson Cab, Yo Cab and Air Cab - have so far licences to operate radio taxis in the city. Delhi government had banned Uber, an online cab booking service soon after its driver was found to be involved in the rape.

"We have also contacted several driving schools who will provide them training," Yadav said.

"To ensure that these women drivers are capable to defend themselves while on road, they will be given self-defence classes that will also be held during these three months," he said.

Apart from this, the training will also teach them how to use pepper spray efficiently and lock themselves in the car, if they face any attack.

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Staying focused and practicing will help you become a better driver. Focus is vital to any driving lesson; Focus teaches you to be more aware. Focus is also one of the things you will be tested for. Helping a teenager learn to drive as soon as possible and starting them off on the road to being a safe driver can go hand in and. Good schools give driving lessons whereas cheap schools invest a lot in teaching the right methodology and ethics involved in driving. In Islington, you are going to find some pretty good driving school offering complete driving lessons. Driving lesson Islington allows the learners to know the road rules and regulations as set by the constitution. Beginners are accompanied by expert drivers who make new learners practice the skill of driving. Lessons are most beneficial when you have some or little knowledge of what you are doing. The most important thing is to stay focused on what the instructor is teaching you. If you want to learn how to drive a car, but you do not have time during the day, then there are some very good driving schools that have evening lessons as well.

Driving into a man’s world

K. Radha is Madurai’s first lady motor driving instructor. She may be in a minority on the city’s congested roads but she stands out in her uncommon job

Radha deftly steers her way through the rush-hour traffic on the busy Goripalayam Road and waits for the signal to turn green. Suddenly a bus comes from behind and scrapes past forcing her to tilt her two-wheeler. “You want to run over me? Let me see your guts,” she shouts at the driver, who glowers at her. A young girl shouts from behind, “This is the driving school madam.” Others waiting at the traffic signal turn to take a look at her.

Both agitated and happy, Radha buzzes off. “When men see a woman driving, they try to take advantage. Sometimes I ignore them but often I feel like giving it back to the guy,” she says. But when her students recognise and acknowledge her, she feels happy enough to dream big.

“The day will come when majority of the drivers on the city roads would have been trained by me,” says Radha, who since 1999 has trained 7,000 women in car and scooter driving. Male students so far add up to a little less than 1,000, she informs.

With all her family members in the job of driving, sitting behind the wheels is in her blood. But nobody taught her anything about driving. She shocked everybody when as a 14-year-old, she asked one of her uncles one day where the brakes and the accelerator were in the scooter and simply kicked off.

“There was no turning back since then,” she laughs.

Radha started earning pocket money by teaching the girls in her locality the basics of driving a two-wheeler. Her parents chose to marry her off early to a workshop mechanic who surprised her by asking her to ride his motorbike. “I loved the freedom of zipping around. It gave me a sense of power,” she says.

Radha recalls her first student, a young bank employee from the neighbourhood who agreed to pay her Rs.250 for 10 classes of an hour each. “I always wanted to become a teacher and sensed an opportunity to give lessons in driving!” says Radha.

The concept of a lady driving teacher was alien in Madurai. She offered her services to pick up and drop back the girl students safely after the class. Parents started trusting her with their daughters. Young women working in the city started flocking to her. But she had only one scooter and could accommodate six students a day.

When her husband passed away in 2004, the pressure to earn more fell on her. Leaving her two small kids with her mother, Radha went to Namakkal for training in bus and lorry driving. After obtaining her heavy vehicles driving license, she drove TNSTC buses for two years. In 2006, she joined the Gopalkrishna Driving School in Anaiyur and became the only lady instructor in town. Savings from her salary and a loan enabled her to buy her first two-wheeler – a Bajaj Sunny! It brought back sunshine in my life, she says, as her students started growing.

After her driving school hours, Radha started taking private classes. As long as the girls and their families had no problem, she and her students would be out on the road at the break of dawn and as late as 11 in the night. Over a period of time Radha added half-a-dozen more two-wheelers and two four-wheelers to her fleet to break off into her own Radha Driving School, the first one owned by a woman. With pride she displays all documents and says, “I am living part of my dream.” She now dreams of owning a bus.

Radha, who also trained the city’s first batch of female auto rickshaw drivers, works from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily even though she has hired two extra drivers. Requests for classes before 10 a.m. and after 6 p.m. are handled by Radha, who works on Sundays too. On an average, she trains 30 women in car and another 25 girls on the scooter per month.

Though women have less knowledge of car parts and functioning, they are more attuned to safety on roads. I can raise my voice if they make a mistake, she notes, but with men it is different.

As the only lady instructor in the region giving training in scooter driving, Radha gets her students even from Sivagangai, Ramnad, Melur and also Chennai. “You feel empowered when you drive, she says, I see so much change in the body language and speech of my students.”

By building other women’s confidence, Radha has got an identity today. Though the first, she is no longer the only female car driving instructor in Madurai. Three other women have entered the field but she sees no competition.

“The male owners of other driving schools in the city harass me sometimes because they think I will take away all their clients,” she laughs. But nothing worries the feisty Radha. Dressed in a bright sari, she breezes past in her Maruti Alto amidst a scene of cheerful chaos on traffic packed roads. I ask her how she manages on a scooter pillion riding with her students. “Only today I have dressed up for the interview,” she smiles. “On other days I don’t even find time to eat my meals.” Radha enjoys driving and knows how to hold her own among men. But she is also aware of the perils of her job. “I have to guard the safety of my students while working in an openly hostile field.”

Wake County schools warn about state elimination of driver’s education funding

 CARY — Wake County school leaders warned Tuesday that the state’s elimination of funding for driver’s education could endanger public safety and will lead to higher costs for parents and taxpayers to fund the required program.

After the fiscal year ends in June, the General Assembly plans to phase out the $26 million it now provides for driver’s education. But the state is still requiring school systems to offer the program. The school board made restoration of state funding for driver’s education one of the items for state lawmakers’ consideration when the General Assembly reconvenes in January.

“I’m suggesting the legislature honor the bargain struck after the Depression, where the state funds the operation of the schools,” school board member Bill Fletcher said.

Replacing funding for driver’s education is just one of several items that the school board included in its legislative agenda approved on Tuesday. Other items include requests to increase funding for teacher pay, school construction, technology and pre-kindergarten.

“Driver education is fully funded in this year’s budget, and future budgeting decisions on this and other programs have not been made,” state Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger’s office said in a statement Tuesday. “Those conversations will happen as part of the appropriations process when a new General Assembly goes into session next year.”

Under North Carolina’s graduated licensing program for young drivers, driver education class is mandatory for anyone younger than 18 who applies for a learner’s permit. Students get 30 hours of classroom instruction and six hours behind the wheel.

Once they turn 18, teens can get a license without the class by passing Division of Motor Vehicles tests.

State law requires school districts to offer driver’s education to every student in public, private and home-schools in their districts who wants the program. In Wake, 12,000 teens annually go through the district’s program, which is contracted to Jordan Driving School.

“There are other families, 10,000 of them out there right now, waiting to see what decisions we make on this,” school board Chairwoman Christine Kushner said.

Driver’s education used to be free for families. But now districts are allowed to charge a fee to help offset cuts in state funding since 2011.

After July 1, no state funding is set aside. Districts will be allowed to charge as much as $65 per student, $10 more than the current amount. But school officials say that $10 increase won’t offset the $191 per student that the state provides.

Drew Cook, Wake’s senior director for high school programs, said the district plans to charge $65 per student next fiscal year. But to meet demand, he said, school administrators are proposing to budget $2.5 million to run the program.

School board members speculated that the higher cost may cause some teens to not take driver’s education, which they said would affect all drivers. Participation dropped statewide after the program was no longer free.

Devin Tanner, Wake’s coordinating teacher for driver education, said statistics show a higher instance of fatal collisions for people who don’t go through driver’s education.

“Do we really want to see it go away to find out what the consequences might be, whether they’re positive or negative?” Tanner said.

Even though the state cut goes into effect next fiscal year, school officials say they’re holding off on registering new students for April and May because they’re worried they won’t complete the program until after June 30.

Fletcher called driver’s education another example of state leaders shifting responsibility for state-mandated programs to the counties.

“Our public needs to know that there is no other place to get money except sales taxes and property taxes,” he said. “So every transfer that comes through the county has an implication that locally we’re going to be asking our citizens to pay more.”

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/12/16/4408109_wake-county-schools-warn-about.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

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Wausau East wins $25,000 grant in safe-driving campaign

Wausau East High School has won a $25,000 grant from State Farm thanks to students who participated in an online safe-driving campaign.
The grant was bestowed through the insurance company's Celebrate My Drive contest, in which students logged on to a website, answered a couple of questions related to safe driving and committed to safe driving habits. The website, www.celebratemydrive.com, encourages young drivers to keep two hands on the steering wheel and two eyes on the road as a way to limit distractions such as cell phone use.
Celebrate My Drive aims to be another reminder to young drivers about the importance of safe driving habits in minimizing the number of crashes among teens. "It's really about encouraging our youth to be more aware of safe ways to drive, the correct ways to drive," said Shirley Jehn, a Wausau State Farm agent who presented the $25,000 check to school officials Thursday afternoon.
Schools with the most participation in the contest received the grant awards. Wausau East was among the top 50 from the 3,283 high schools from across the country that participated in Celebrate My Drive.
The contest came at a time when safety and poor driving habits have become an issue in the school's parking lots, said Chris Budnik, an associate principal at the school. She said speeding, driving the wrong way on one-way streets and reckless driving, such as spinning donuts, have become an increasing problem, so the timing of the contest was appropriate.
Some of the $25,000 will be used to create a safe-driving campaign in the school and to help pay for incentives in the school's positive-behavior program. Other chunks of the money will go to student organizations, such as the Key Club, Student Council and Career Club, which all helped promote participation in the contest.
And finally, Budnik said, $1,000 will be donated to Wausau food pantry The Neighbors' Place.

EDIBLE EDUCATION: Local schools inspired by a variety of initiatives

(Editor's note: This is the first story in a series on school nutrition in the Olympic Region.)

LAKE PLACID - Schools in the Olympic Region continue to adopt farm-to-school principles in the cafeteria and the classroom, partly to meet state and federal requirements and partly because, as they say, it's the right thing to do.

Educators in the region share the same ideology that's driving school nutrition reforms throughout the nation. They want to serve children healthier food options in schools and establish food-related education into the regular curriculum. A number of initiatives are in place, some more local than others, yet the goal of raising healthier children is the same for all.

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Troopers: Garbage Truck Driver Charged in Crash that Killed 1

A garbage truck driver has been charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle for the accident that killed a school bus driver in Union County Monday.

Highway patrol believes there was some kind of distraction inside the garbage truck, which led them to file the charge.

Timothy Jerome McManus of Indian Trail was killed after a garbage truck crossed the center line. The garbage truck driver's identity has not yet been released.

The crash happened around 3 p.m. on New Town Road in Wesley Chapel near the Silver Creek neighborhood.

Troopers say McManus was driving school bus #334 and had just finished dropping off kids who attend Central Academy of Technology and Arts, or CATA. No students were on the bus at the time of the accident.

McManus was a bus driver with Union County Schools for three years.

A GoFundMe account has been setup for the McManus family. For information on how to donate, click here.

Teens Bring "Influx" to Minnesota Driving Schools Amidst Pending Driving Rules

 Teen drivers in Minnesota are about to face some of the toughest driving rules in the region. And the new law means parents will have to spend more time behind the wheel with the young drivers.

The new rules will force teens to keep logs of their practice hours, and parents will have to sign off on those logs. The Driver and Vehicle Services, or DVS, will then require students to drive 50 "practice" hours, instead of 30. But parents can cut those hours down to 40, if the parent of guardian attends a "supplemental" parent class.

Teens Inc. instructor, Mike Pehl, has taught driving students for 25 years. He said he has seen three times more students this December than last because of the new law, and the hardest part is seeing parents not taking their teens out on drives within the first three months of having their permit.

"That's the hardest part of my job," Pehl said. "Those parents waste that valuable, valuable time of experience. Three months wasted. I just want to go up to the parents and say 'what have you done?'"

Maplewood resident, Paul Johnson, said he worries about his granddaughter's safety, and hopes the new driving law will keep her safe.

"She needs as much driving behind the wheel as possible because over time, she is going to get better," Johnson said.

Driving student, Antonio Diez, who is 15 years old, said the new requirements do not bother him because he wants to get out and drive.

"I would probably drive more than the 30 hours required," Diez said, "just because I have a permit and I want to get the experience."

Pehl said parents are getting done with this new law before Jan. 1 so they don't have to turn a piece of paper in when their kids go to get a driver's license, but they should be concerned because the required hours still are not enough. He said student drivers are still inexperienced.

"The No. 1 thing parents should be looking at is in my son or daughter really prepared to go into a whole bunch of disaster out there and function," Pehl said.  "And when disaster does strike, meaning the car does crash, are they able to drive the car to do the defensive driving they need to do?"

The Department of Public Safety, or DPS, said car accidents are still the second leading cause of death among teens. It said 30 teens die in Minnesota each year. A DPS spokesman said that number has been consistent since 2006, but has dropped since 2004-2006, where the number was at 42 and 47, respectively.

Pehl has a website known as "Drive Safe Ride Safe," where he posts videos and statistics to show both parents and teens the dangers of driving. 

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Driver First Assist launches new safety survey

Driver First Assist (DFA), a not-for-profit road safety initiative, is conducting a survey to learn more about the effect road traffic collisions can have on business car drivers. 
The survey is now live, https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/driverfirst.
DFA will use the results to better understand how it can help improve road safety in the UK.
The DFA revealed in August that 50% of fleet drivers would like post-accident training and 84% think more drivers should be trained in the skills needed to deal with the aftermath of a road traffic collision, according to its previous survey, which was also in association with the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM).
Of the 2198 respondents to the previous survey, 50% said they would like to participate in such training themselves, and 34% were interested in finding out more.
The majority of people, 79%, said that they would stop and help if they arrived at a road traffic collision before the emergency services, and 44% have done so already, with a further 10% saying they would if they had received the correct training.

When asked specifically about first aid, 75% would consider stopping to give medical assistance to someone who was injured.
Of the respondents:

• A quarter answered that although they hadn't received any training they still felt they knew enough to make a difference and save someone's life
• Half of respondents had received some level of training and felt they would be confident enough to put in into practice
• 18% answered that they wouldn't get involved in first aid because they'd be afraid of not knowing what to do or doing the wrong thing.

 The survey went on to explore whether people's hypothetical responses to scenarios matched up with best practice on emergency responses and findings here were mixed.
Reassuringly, 78% of the respondents knew that finding a safe place to stop and assess the scene was the most important first step, before dialling 999 or ensuring all those involved are grouped together. Similarly 73% knew that the only time they should park their vehicle to protect a collision was to protect life.
However, there were some myths too, with 39% of respondents believing that the emergency services would be able to trace their mobile using GPS to pinpoint their geographical locations, which isn't the case.
And despite a majority suggesting they would try and attempt first aid at the scene, 60% thought that patient movement was not enough to indicate that their heart is beating, which is in fact true.
DFA founder David Higginbottom said: "The fact that nearly half of drivers have come across the scene of a collision before the emergency services arrive clearly demonstrates the potential the motoring public has to help, and individuals' responses to the survey show how willing they would be to do so.
"A person will die from a blocked airway within four minutes, but the target ambulance response time is twice that. Having a network of volunteers on the road, trained in the skills needed to correctly report a crash to the emergency services, or even to deliver life-saving first aid, has the potential to reduce road deaths by up to 46%."

Community development and road safety propel Maruti’s CSR in the fast lane

Vipul M Patel hails from Ghej village of Gujarat's Navasari district. An ITI-trained motor mechanic, Patel did a computer course in order to get a job. But there were none in sight. On the prodding of a friend who had passed out from All Gujarat Institute of Driving, Technical Training and Research, Patel joined the driving course too. He now works as a full-time driver in a travel agency in his district, making Rs 6,500 a month. "I plan to buy my own vehicle and run it as a taxi," he says.

Stories such as Patel's abound in great measure at auto major Maruti Suzuki. The company closely works with Ministry of Tribal Development in Gujarat to train young people like Patel in driving. While the company's driving training efforts elsewhere in the country are aimed at road safety, the facility near Vadodara approaches driving as an employment opportunity. In addition to providing driving training, Maruti also imparts training in personality, hygiene, courtesy and communication.

The beneficiaries are, therefore, housed in a residential facility during the entire training period. So far, over 5,000 young tribals, mostly landless farm workers and unskilled construction workers, have been trained, groomed and employed.

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ET trucking firms wary of driver shortage

If the economy ever shifts into high gear, there is a fear that the trucking industry might be left stuck in neutral.
The problem is a shortage of drivers. It's an issue that has been around for a number of years but it was less critical when the economy was more sluggish and there was less to haul, said Dave Huneryager, president of the Tennessee Trucking Association.
"The economy is pretty solid now, but the really scary part is if it ever really took off, would we have enough people behind the wheels of our trucks to haul all the goods?" he said.
At the American Trucking Association's annual conference in October, the group's chief economist, Bob Costello, told members that as freight volumes continue to rise, the driver shortage could hold back industry growth. According to Costello, the turnover rate for drivers -- which he said was a gauge of the shortage -- rose 11 percent in the second quarter of 2014 to an annualized rate of 103 percent.
Turnover at smaller fleets -- those with less than $30 million in revenue -- rose 16 percent in the quarter to reach an annualized rate of 94 percent. These turnover rates were the highest since 2012, according to Costello.
Jim Peters, vice president of operations with Knoxville-based TLD Logistics, said his company is one of 12 carriers from around the country that make up a benchmark group that tries to keep tabs on the industry.
"We did a survey on what percentage of trucks our members have had to park because they did not have drivers for them, and it averaged about 7 to 9 percent," he said.
TLD Logistics was more fortunate and has had to park only 2 percent of its trucks, Peters said. To help combat the problem, TLD Logistics has started a six-week driver training program, he said.
Vanquish Worldwide, which opened a 17,000-square-foot headquarters in Maryville in June and has been growing through a partnership with FedEx and through acquisitions, still contends with a driver shortage.
Eric Barton, its founder, told the News Sentinel in June that despite a strong benefits package, Vanquish has difficulties recruiting drivers, especially as the company does Department of Defense work and demands drivers meet high security standards.
Barton said Vanquish turns away more drivers than it hires because of background checks and verification processes.
Complicating the driving picture are new federal hours-of-service requirements, Huneryager said. Under previous regulations, drivers had to have 34 hours off duty between one workweek and the next. This is considered their "restart" period. In 2012, a requirement was added that the 34-hour period must include two consecutive periods in which the driver has a 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. period in which to sleep.
This complicates scheduling. If a driver reached a destination at 1:30 a.m., this would add nearly another day to the time that driver would have to take to meet the requirement, Huneryager said.
"What the new hours of service do is ask the trucking company to haul the same amount of freight with more drivers," he said.
Several things have been driving the shortage. An increased government focus on driver safety records pushed many drivers out of the industry. Older drivers are retiring but younger people are not entering the field. One problem is a person has to be 21 years old to get the required license and a lot of young people are already into another field by then.
In addition, a lot of people with families don't want to be gone for weeks at a time. Peters said his company tries to make sure its drivers get home for every weekend, though.
Many companies are looking for new ways to attract potential drivers, Huneryager said. They are trying to attract more husband-and-wife teams and trying to appeal to veterans, Huneryager said.
"We are trying to work with the National Guard and hook up with folks out of active military duty and transition them into trucking," he said.

But no "magic bullet" solution for the driver shortage has been found yet, Peters said: "It is definitely a period of transition if you talk to people in the industry."

Parents suggest instructors for driver’s ed classes

At the Lackawanna Trail school board meeting Nov. 10, Cathy Rist Strauch, treasurer of Friends of Music and parent of a Trail student, asked the board to allow driving school teachers Randy Miller of M&S Driving School and Mark Beach of Mark’s Driving School to test the driver’s education. students. She said that they are able to test if they are associated with Lackawanna Trail.

“They have clearances,” she told the board. “They’re good for all these other schools. Talk to them. Find out more about it because it’s the parents and the children that are affected, not them. We want to be able to have the choice of not going to the state police barracks to have a state trooper be the one to test our child. We would like to have a friendly face with our child if that be the case.”

School director Joseph Strauch asked the board if they can incur liability, and asked Miller and Beach if they are applying to become employees of the school.

“We are neutral, independent businesses that have liability, our clearances, and everything on file with the Department of Education,” said Beach. “We provide services to people who come with us. If the school district’s requests are assistance in testing the students, then we can give them the driving tests and give them their licenses but it has to come as a request from the school district.”

Parent Christy Clarke asked the board if anyone would like to comment on why the reluctance of allowing this to the school district.

“As I understand it, by not affiliating, we’re not precluding students from being educated by them (Miller and Beach),” Board member Dr. Michael Mould said.

“We’re not asking you to tell people they have to do this. All we want is the opportunity to be able to do it,” said Clarke.

Mould replied that the school offers billboards, in which they (Miller and Beach) can purchase advertising, in the gymnasium.

“We’re looking at the parents that are paying for the services. We should be given that extra ability to use them (Miller and Beach) for testing, which we can’t do until you let them decide to let them be associated,” Strauch said.

Board member Carol Selwood brought up the fact that students have to pay $400 for six out of 50 hours required for driving lessons. She also said that the board is not stopping anybody from looking in the Yellow Pages and using their services.

Clarke replied that Lackawanna Trail used to pay for driver’s education when they offered it for the high school and did not include all the lessons required for a driver’s license.

“Those (parents), that care enough to have their child get a special lesson, should be given the opportunity to have that person test them,” said Strauch.

Clarke asked board member Kevin Mulhern why Lackawanna Trail shouldn’t use Miller and Beach to test the students.

“I feel that a student should go to the state police barracks and get tested,” Mulhern replied. “Those guys have been doing this for a hundred years and they’re experts at it.”

In other business, superintendent Matthew Rakauskas announced in his report that the Bring Your Own Device Program, which began on Nov. 3, is off to a nice start. He said that last week, students got to use their own device. He also announced that beginning next week, elementary students will be able to use a smart device to look for a book at the library.

“Mrs. Kelly (Hopkins), our elementary librarian, has taken a number of books and gave them QR codes, so as students decide which book they might want to check out, they can literally take their smart device, scan the code, and watch a trailer of the book,” he announced. “So, that’s up and coming next week.”

High school principal Dr. Mark Murphy, in his secondary report, commented that the high school is taking baby steps in the BYOD program.

“I’ve been able to observe several classes and seeing how the BYOD initiative is being fleshed out in classes,” he said.

Murphy said that in teacher Thomas Lengel’s science class, he was using a slow motion camera app during a lab to capture the rate and speed of a ball dropping into a cylinder. He said that the students were using two different apps for that function and comparing which one more accurate. He also said that teacher Claire L. Signorello was using charting and graphing apps with her statistics class, taking data, and compiling it into spreadsheets.

Murphy also announced that Kristen Kurpis, instructional technology specialist, will be presenting the top 100 apps, which could be integrated into the curriculum on Nov. 19.

In other news, the board made a motion to appoint Leslie Grega full-time secretarial position at the probation rate of $15.20 per hour, as stipulated in the collective bargaining. School director Joseph Strauch abstained because only a superintendent can appoint a secretary. Motion was still carried.

In other business, the board approved to appoint Judy Kwiatkowski as a volunteer girls’ basketball coach for the 2014-15 school year, all clearances on file.

In other business, the board approved to accept with regret business manager Dave Homish’s resignation to be effective June 30, 2015. Joseph Strauch abstained saying that the resignations are unilateral decisions, not requiring acceptance. Motion was still carried.

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'Cake Boss' Buddy Valastro Pleaded Guilty to Driving While Impaired

 "Cake Boss" star Buddy Valastro pleaded guilty to operating a motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol -- a violation, not a crime -- today.

As a result, his driver's license will be suspended for 90 days and he must pay a fine.

"I want to thank everyone for their support. I also want to apologize to everyone," Valastro tweeted. "I pled [sic] guilty today because I wanted to make this right. I learned an important lesson that if you  have even one drink you shouldn't drive."

'Cake Boss' Buddy Valastro Told Cops, 'You Can't Arrest Me! I'm the Cake Boss!'

Valastro, 37, was arrested in New York City on Nov. 13 after failing a field sobriety test. According to the prosecutor, Valastro told police, "I had a couple drinks. You can't arrest me! I'm the Cake Boss!" and insisted several times, "I'm a good guy." Looking back, Valastro said he's "very disappointed" in himself.

"I thought I was fine to drive, but I wasn't. I put people in danger," he wrote. "I'll never get behind the wheel of a car again, even after one sip. My sincerest apologies to my family, friends and fans." 

Driving lesson hits home for Toowoomba teenagers

 TOOWOOMBA'S St Ursula's College is doing its part to cut down the rising number of teenage road deaths.

The school is one of 30 across the state helping students make better choices through the RACQ docudrama program.

An alcohol-fuelled fatal car crash was re-enacted at the college to hammer home the road safety message to students.

Senior student Isabelle Brutnall said the graphic dramatisation brought reality almost too close to home, especially as the acting victim was a St Ursula's College student.

"It was someone we knew. It felt very real. It's not something you see every day and really makes you think about the consequences of your actions," she said.


 A new study by the RACQ reports more than 40% of Queensland's senior students had willingly got into a car with a suspected drink driver

RACQ's Julie Smith said the docudrama helped empower teenagers to make the right decisions.

"We want the docudrama to make a lasting impression on the students so they take the responsibility of driving and being a passenger seriously every time they get behind the wheel," Ms Smith said.

"Teenagers and young adults aged between 17 and 25 account for the largest proportion of fatalities and serious injuries on Queensland roads so it's paramount we educate them if we want to see a reduction." 

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Herrin High School wins $25,000 in national teen driving safety program

This past Saturday, students, faculty and community members were surprised at half-time at Herrin’s football game with news they had won a national teen driving safety program.
The Tigers are among 90 schools nationally in Celebrate My Drive teen driver safety awareness campaign.
Celebrate My Drive, powered by State Farm, awarded Herrin High School with a $25,000 grant. They were among 3,283 registered high schools who participated in this year’s program. Students, parents, administrators and the entire community rallied in support of teen drivers, making online safe driving commitments, helping the Tigers reach their goal.
Crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, and the first year behind the wheel is the most dangerous. Celebrate My Drive is an opportunity to celebrate new drivers, focusing on the freedom, but also the responsibility, that comes with earning a driver’s license. It’s a chance for teens and their high schools to amplify conversations about this important topic and help be part of the solution.
“On behalf of State Farm, I am extremely proud of Herrin High School’s efforts to generate excitement among students, faculty and the entire community to make safe driving commitments and have positive conversations about teen driver safety,” said Regional State Farm Agency Sales Leader Kevin Martin. “We appreciate all of the wonderful support of the program to help reduce teen crashes and save lives.”
Herrin High School is required to invest 10 percent of the grant award on a teen driver safety program for students. They plan to use the remaining funds for technology and curricular needs.
“This has been a true community effort,” says Herrin High Principal Terry Ryker. “We want to thank the community for rallying behind us -- this campaign has rallied the community and bridged the gap between our school and businesses. This experience has created lasting partnerships that will far exceed the $25,000 and for that we are forever grateful.”
A complete list of the 100 winning high schools will be available on www.celebratemydrive.com on December 15.

Corruption crackdown follows cases of people paying to pass their driving tests

Zhu Jianming, a 57-year-old driving instructor, teaches his student in Shenzhen,Guangdong Province, November,2013. Photo:CFP

Getting a driving license on the Chinese mainland is not an easy process.

Apart from lengthy training and complicated examinations one must suffer through, applicants may also need to pay a bribe to their driving instructors as "insurance" to make sure they can get their license.

The Ministry of Public Security announced a potential plan for reform last week to make taking lessons in driving schools optional and to allow applicants to register for driving tests on their own.

Observers have seen the move as a way to curb corruption within the driving license management system.

Corrupt traffic
In China, most people who apply for driving license need to attend a minimum of 64 hours of training organized by a driving school before they take the four required examinations, including classes on driving theory, the rules of the road and driving practice. The total tuition fees normally cost between 4,000 yuan ($651) and 10,000 yuan and the whole process takes around two to three months.

Although there is no law or regulation explicitly stating that one must attend a training school before applying for a driving test, in practice, many vehicle management authorities and traffic police only accept applications sent through authorized training schools.

As of November 2014, China has more than 300 million licensed drivers, including 244 million car drivers, according to the Ministry of Public Security on Thursday. 22 percent of Chinese people have driving licenses, and the number will continue to surge in the next few years, the ministry said.

This September, more than 20 officials working in the vehicle management department in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, were fired and put under investigation after being accused of taking millions of yuan from 40 local driving schools.

In this case, schools required their students to pay a 500 yuan "guarantee fee" and giving 300 yuan to the authorities in charge of the examinations. Students who paid this money would pass the test regardless of their actual performance.

Fan Li, a senior official of the China Road Transport Association, told The Beijing News that many driving teachers did not provide enough instruction to their students. Instead they just prepared them to pay examiners, Fan said.

Even though they obtain a driving license, many people are still very poor drivers and are likely to cause traffic accidents, he added,

The traffic management bureau, under the Ministry of Public Security, has said previously that new drivers with less than three years of experience have increasingly been involved in accidents.

In 2010, more than 30 percent of traffic accidents involved new drivers, and this figure jumped to over 40 percent in the first six months of 2012.

Power abuse

Wang Jun, a driving teacher who has taught in a Beijing driving school in Haidian district for five years, told the Global Times that the examination pass rate is crucial to instructor's income and to training schools' profit.

"Our salaries include bonuses based on how many students pass their driving tests. However, applicants need to wait to take a test due to the increasing number of car owners," Wang said. 

Another Beijing-based driving instructor, surnamed Zhang who has taught people how to drive for 18 years, told the Global Times that some driving instructors pay vehicle management officials to jump the queue and have more of their students take the exams.

"Those teachers or driving schools normally attract students with low tuition fees and then demand money from students if they want to practice driving more frequently and take their tests sooner," Zhang said.

If schools cannot get a reasonable number of students to pass the exams, they become less competitive and are unable to attract students, an anonymous source from a driving school in Hefei, Anhui Province told the Global Times. "The situation got worse when the new driving test was introduced last year as it is more difficult to pass."

Pan Yiyuan, a 32-year-old resident from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, told the Global Times that he had to pay nearly 8,000 yuan, including 5,000 of "guarantee fee", to ensure he could get a driving license within two months.

"My teacher told me that I needed to wait for seven months to take the tests and that he could not guarantee I would pass the test. But If I pay, everything is fine," Pan said.

Procurators in Hebei have noted that the lack of external supervision of vehicle management authorities make it easy for them to abuse their power.

A commentary posted on news portal xinhuanet.com on Wednesday noted that the vehicle management authorities have a monopoly over the industry, which will inevitably lead to misconduct.

The majority of corrupt dealings occur between driving schools and vehicle management authorities, the commentary pointed out, adding that the system needs to be reformed to curb graft.

System reform

Huang Ming, vice-minister of public security, said that China plans to reform  the process by which people acquire driving licenses to allow independent learning and testing.

No further details of the proposed reform plans have been revealed as Huang said that the ministry will seek public opinions and research about the reform first.

Some experts believe that the possible reforms consist of a crack down on corruption in transportation departments and driving schools.

Fan was quoted by the Beijing Times as saying that the corruption cases triggered the reform.

If the public can learn how to drive and take the examinations without going to driving schools, the profitable link between driving schools and vehicle management authorities can be severed, Fan said.

Huang emphasized that transparent and fair enrollment and examination systems must be implemented to eliminate corruption from the root up.

The xinhuanet.com commentary pointed out that the corruption in the driving license system is mainly caused by the centralization and abuse of power. The proposed reforms could return some power to the public, the commentary said.

"Vehicle management authorities are on the top of the profit chain in corruption cases. More supervision should be exercised over them," said Wang Limei, secretary-general of the China Road Transport Association.

According to a number of driving schools reached by the Global Times in Beijing, they have yet to be informed of the reforms but they say that it will be difficult for citizens to lean how to drive independently due to a lack of public facilities.

Wang Jun told the Global Times that one of the tests requires practice on special training facilities with piles and one-way bridges, which can only be found in training schools. 

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You'll be taught by approved advanced driving instructors with years of experience, and because you'll be taught in a top of the range you can be confident that you're in one of the best and safest cars on the road. If one wants to pick or drop kids or friends, the task becomes really easy. But if you are among those who don't know how to drive a car, you can opt for driving lesson Guildford which is affordable and can also make you a professional car driver. We have an exceptionally high pass rate so you can be confident that you're in good hands, but if for any reason you don't pass your test first time we'll offer you as many lessons as you need afterwards. You won't get such great value from any other driving school. You can choose a program as per the number of days you want to learn driving. There are programs, under which one is provided with few days or even a month's training.