If this weren’t so scary, it would be funny. Recently, a few would-be motorists were doing so poorly on the road tests for a driver’s license that the Secretary of State examiners actually fled from the car in mid-test.
The examiners walked back to the office, unwilling to risk life and limb with obviously unprepared drivers.
These weren’t just driver-wannabes–they were drivers who already had their licenses, bought and paid for with bribes to other driving examiners.
As the state tries to clean up the mess created by the bribes-for-licenses scheme uncovered 2 1/2 years ago, the problem is like a bruise on an apple. Scrape at the surface and there’s more rot underneath.
These road-test washouts were part of the secretary of state’s retesting of suspect drivers. First up were about 3,900 commercial bus and truck drivers, some who got licenses when Gov. George Ryan was in the secretary’s chair and some who were licensed after Secretary of State Jesse White took over.
Of 225 drivers called in this summer, more than half failed the retest or didn’t come in for retesting and lost their licenses. No surprise, perhaps–there have been at least three fatal accidents involving truckers who allegedly obtained licenses through bribes in Illinois.
Auto drivers ran up similarly poor results when they were called in for retesting. About 60 percent of 300 drivers failed to show or failed the test. One of them failed to get the car started. Another failed to make his way two blocks back to the West Side driver’s license office after his examiner walked out on him.
That’s not entirely unprecedented. Mike Bauer, manager of the West Side facility, said examiners have hoofed it home before when their test subjects proved to be dangerous. The examiners warn the failed drivers that they cannot drive farther, and often take the car keys.
But the retesting only affirms how much danger was created by the bribery schemes. Most of the recently failed drivers were students of one driving school. That school’s owner was convicted of passing bribes to get licenses for his students.
All this underscores how essential it is to get all of the unqualified drivers off the roads as quickly as possible. White’s chief investigator said there may be thousands of drivers who got their licenses under the table.
With all the other dangers that can make driving a thrill ride–from cell-phone distractions to the lure of liquor–Jesse White has to use all due speed to complete the retesting. These human road hazards need to be off the streets and on the sidewalks–as pedestrians.
