Only about one-third of the 158 drivers ordered in for new licensing tests Monday passed the written test and will proceed to the next stage of testing, a spokesman for Secretary of State Jesse White said.
The 158 people represent the second wave of passenger-car drivers ordered to be retested because of the federal Operation Safe Road investigation of widespread license-bribery in Illinois during the 1990s.
Only 72 of those ordered in Monday showed up to take their written tests, said David Druker, White’s spokesman. Of those 72, only 53 passed their tests. The rest will have their licenses canceled, Druker said.
The 53 people who passed the written test Monday are still not off the hook: They are scheduled to take road tests next week. Those who do not pass will lose their licenses.
The drivers were all former students of the defunct New Dehli Driving School. The suburban school’s owner, Bharat Patel, was recently convicted in Operation Safe Road on two counts of bribing at least seven state road-test examiners. About 450 of Patel’s former students have been ordered to take new tests.
Earlier this month, the first group of Patel’s students were called in for road tests. Their failure rate–60 percent–was three times the normal failure rate for first-time drivers, and many of the drivers had been licensed for more than a year. The drivers ran over curbs, went the wrong way on one-way streets and nearly had accidents during their short road tests.
Eight former examiners at the state’s Chicago West testing center, 5301 W. Lexington St., have pleaded guilty to accepting bribes to pass unqualified drivers. Authorities have said they fear more than 10,000 drivers could be involved.
Chicago West is the only passenger-car facility targeted as part of Operation Safe Road, which has focused largely on bribes paid to secure licenses for truck drivers. In all, 32 people have been convicted in the probe.
