Don’t worry – it’s a story from Ottawa, Canada on CBC News.
It appears that Canada has the same problem we do here in the UK. Namely, inferior politicians trying to jump-start their careers.
In a nutshell, people who live near a test centre have complained, Councillor Maria McRae has listened, and she has tabled a motion to ban driver training near to the test centre in question. It could be taken straight off the noticeboard in any test centre in the UK, couldn’t it?
Mind you, another thing Canada shares with the UK is the attitude of many of its driving instructors.
Local driving instructors were sent a notice from the city to stop driving in the area last month — something they said is unfair.
“Other people practice with their kids without a roof sign,” Rite-Way Driving School instructor Jamal Kassabry said.
“How are they going to stop that, too?”
That one could come straight out of an ADI association’s meeting minutes, couldn’t it? We have them over here where if there is a request not to use a certain area or location posted at the test centre, some ADIs will go there deliberately. We don’t help ourselves, sometimes.
The best quote comes in the comments at the bottom (and there are 10 pages of them):
I live in this area, in fact I live on a street which I drove on during my G2/G driving tests taken at Walkley. There are, without-a-doubt, A LOT of driving schools practicing in the neighbourhood – while waiting on the street corner for the little one’s school bus I’ll quite often count as many 1 in 3 cars being driven by new drivers.
In spite of this, I wouldn’t by any means consider it a problem. Sure, there’s arguably more traffic than there should be, but these drivers drive extremely slow (at times half the speed limit) and are barely dangerous. The only traffic I ever see is caused by the dozens of parents dropping off and picking up kids from school. With all of the gang-filled-ghettos that border this neighbourhood, kids practicing their driving is the least of our worries.
That sums up the whole issue in one. When Councillor McRae refers to “residents’ complaints” she actually means “very few residents” or “not a high percentage of residents”.
EDIT 18/3/2011: There’s an updated story at yourottawaregion.com.
I have to say, the combination of the typical intellect and attitude of a driving instructor and the career aspirations of a no-name local councillor is a potent one indeed. It seems to be the same the world over.