Learn safe driving only from authorised driving schools, advises Delhi government

With mushrooming growth of illegal motor driving training schools in the national capital, Delhi government has come out with a list of 57 authorised centres and appealed to people to learn "safe driving" only from them.

At present, there are hundreds of such training schools which are illegally imparting driving training in different parts of the city, ignoring safety of learners and traffic rules, a senior official of transport department said.

"Keeping the safety of learners in mind, we have identified 57 authorised motor driving training schools across the capital and issued a list of such schools having valid licence," he said, and asked people to learn driving only from an authorised school.

There have been several cases in past in which vehicles belonging to illegal driving training schools have been involved in road accidents or have violated traffic rules, he said. He also said such schools do not have proper safety arrangements and students can even hurt themselves and others while taking lessons in driving.

The transport department has asked people to inform them if driving training schools are found violating rules.

"We will soon approach the traffic police to tackle unauthorised driving training schools. We have requested people to inform us if they find any school violating traffic rules or

West Elgin man charged with stunt driving in a school zone

A 42-year-old West Elgin man is charged with stunt driving after police clocked an SUV travelling 120 kilometres an hour in a school zone.

Elgin OPP said Monday the incident happened last week near Southwold Public School at about 10:45 a.m. The speed limit in that area, which is considered a school safety zone, is 50 km/h, police said.

The SUV pulled into a private driveway, and when officers pulled in behind it, the male driver switched seats with the female passenger, police said.

Police didn't fall for the switch, and instead charged the man with stunt driving, driving while suspended and obstructing a police officer.

Richard Huish College student wins iPad for signing up to L lessons

DARIUS Vahdati, a student at Richard Huish College, Taunton, has won an iPad after booking driving lessons with the college’s new driving school.

Darius is one of the first students to be learning to drive with Huish Driving School and was entered into a prize draw when he booked lessons.

The second year student, from Taunton, said: “I feel lucky to have won it as I don’t have one already.

“It will help me with organisation and help me to stop losing things.

“I didn’t believe the e-mail I received at first telling me I had won.”

Learn driving only from 57 government authorised schools

With Delhi witnessing burgeon increase of “unauthorised” driving training institutes in various parts of the capital city, the state administration has issued a list of 57 approved training schools and urged Delhiites to learn “safe” driving from these centres only.

According to a senior transport department official, there has been a rapid increase in the number of driving institutes across the national capital that “ignore” safety of learners and flout traffic rules and norms. The department, so far, does not have the exact figures of such “illegal” driving centres.

It has now identified about 57 training institutes “authorised” driving with valid licence to provide driving courses. “Keeping the safety of learners in mind, we have identified 57 authorised motor driving training schools across the city, and issued a list of such schools having valid licence,” the official said, while urging that people should learn driving only from these authorised schools.

Noting that there have been several cases in the past in which vehicles belonging to illegal driving training schools have been involved in road accidents or have violated traffic rules, the official said that such institutes do not have proper safety arrangements, and trainee drivers could hurt themselves and others while taking lessons. “We have also received complaints that these driving institutes provide training to underage children, which is a very serious safety issue.”

The department has also appealed to the people to inform them if driving training schools are found violating rules and is set to approach the traffic police for tackling such unauthorised driving schools. “We have requested people to inform us if they find any school violating traffic rules or other rules by dialing Helpline no 42-400-400,” the official added.

Two people used driving school to steal over $2.5M in taxpayer money: attorney general

An Education Department employee and a program director at a driving school were indicted Monday for taking the state for a ride by stealing over $2.5 million in a kick-back scheme.

Keisha Relf Davis, 36, who worked as a vocational counselor in a DOE program that offered programs like drivers' education to New Yorkers with disabilities, is accused of perpetrating the fraud with Steven Washington, 68, who worked in Manhattan and Bronx schools.

Washington would allegedly charge students $300 to $500 for a few hours of road training and send their information to Davis. She would then cook the books to show they were trained through the program — receiving some 90 hours of classroom and theoretical training plus lengthy road lessons — prompting the state to reimburse the schools nearly $5,000 for each of the 540 or so students she submitted paperwork for, officials said.

Davis is accused of keeping the cash payments while Washington pocketed 12% of the reimbursements with the rest going to the schools.

“Taking advantage of a government job to steal millions of dollars from New York taxpayers is a shameful violation of the public's trust,” said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, whose office brought the charges.

The allegedly underhanded duo has been hit with grand larceny and other counts. They can get up to 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison if convicted.

We Attend the Ultimate Driving School

The first thing my instructor says to me with a straight face is that I am about to have as much fun as I possibly can “with [my] clothes on.” He isn’t wrong.

Let me back up just a bit.

South Africa has a hijacking problem (carjacking is called hijacking in South Africa). According to Well Aware, there are 140,000 hijackings and car thefts a year here. The problem is so bad that “Hijacking hotspot” signs have been placed all over the country along the stretches of highway that attract the carjackers.

"It’s usually stretches of highways that are pretty, and people slow down or stop to take pictures," my guide Theo Pieters told me. "But it happens in cities too. Someone tried to hijack me two weeks ago, but I saw them sneaking up behind me and just blasted on the gas."

Driving instructor releases new book to help learners

Debbie Brewer, who lives in Thurlby Way, set up Debs Driving School two years ago.
After seeing a gap in the market and frequently being asked by her pupils to write down the steps of the manoeuvres so they could follow reliable instructions outside of their lessons, she decided to write the book: Step by Step Guide to Manoeuvres.
“I searched the internet and found there was nothing simple for them to learn from out there,” said Debbie, who used to work as a nurse before deciding to follow her dream and become a driving instructor.
“Some people learn by reading, and some are lucky enough to have their own cars so I want them to know they are practising correctly when I’m not in the car with them.”
The book has been tried and tested by Debbie’s pupils who have given her a lot of positive feedback.