High quotas blamed for accidents
A handful of driving instructors have been fired this week as a result of a string of accidents on city streets, according to the Ministry of Transportation Ontario.
Last week, there were 87 vehicular accidents reported to London police. 19 of those were serious collisions, which resulted in victims being hospitalized, but the majority of the reports were fender-benders with little damage to vehicles or participants.
The accidents were all caused by drivers who had taken and passed their road tests in the city sometime in the last 12 years. One such driver caused an astonishing 23 of the accidents.
“These accidents are becoming a serious safety problem on the city streets,” said London Police spokesperson Marge Stillwater. “We are taking [the accidents] very seriously and will be launching a full investigation.”
The investigation, according to Stillwater, will begin at the London branch of the MTO, where it is suspected that some of the employees responsible for testing are giving unsafe drivers a passing grade and allowing them to drive unsupervised.
The allegations of corrupt testing are not being taken lightly by the MTO. They have issued a formal statement that outlines a plan of action that they will be taking to investigate each one of their driving instructors' pass/fail records. They are also planning on facilitating driver retesting for all of their employees.
“We can't believe that all of these recent accidents might be somehow caused by our employees,” said MTO Public Relations Officer Brian Sykes. “If the allegations are true, we will enforce a punishment.”
Some MTO employees, however, say that not only is the MTO not angry with them, but they are actually more responsible than they are currently acknowledging. According to the instructor, who wants to remain nameless to protect his job, the MTO management enforces a strict quota of pass/fails.
“They told us when we got our instructor license that we were to pass 80 per cent of our clients, regardless of how well or poorly they drive,” said the employee. “In fact, they even gave us the equation to follow — during even months, we fail every third person. In odd months, we fail every fourth.”
When asked about the formula, the MTO resonated their innocence. Sykes added that if they were innocent, “…the MTO would use a much more sophisticated formula, such as failing every second woman and every third man, but only on Monday afternoons and Thursday mid-mornings.
“Not that we do that,” he quickly added.
Disclaimer: Stories printed in the Fanshawe Distorter are in fact fictious. Any resemblance to persons real or dead is unintentional and entirely hilarious.
Last week, there were 87 vehicular accidents reported to London police. 19 of those were serious collisions, which resulted in victims being hospitalized, but the majority of the reports were fender-benders with little damage to vehicles or participants.
The accidents were all caused by drivers who had taken and passed their road tests in the city sometime in the last 12 years. One such driver caused an astonishing 23 of the accidents.
“These accidents are becoming a serious safety problem on the city streets,” said London Police spokesperson Marge Stillwater. “We are taking [the accidents] very seriously and will be launching a full investigation.”
The investigation, according to Stillwater, will begin at the London branch of the MTO, where it is suspected that some of the employees responsible for testing are giving unsafe drivers a passing grade and allowing them to drive unsupervised.
The allegations of corrupt testing are not being taken lightly by the MTO. They have issued a formal statement that outlines a plan of action that they will be taking to investigate each one of their driving instructors' pass/fail records. They are also planning on facilitating driver retesting for all of their employees.
“We can't believe that all of these recent accidents might be somehow caused by our employees,” said MTO Public Relations Officer Brian Sykes. “If the allegations are true, we will enforce a punishment.”
Some MTO employees, however, say that not only is the MTO not angry with them, but they are actually more responsible than they are currently acknowledging. According to the instructor, who wants to remain nameless to protect his job, the MTO management enforces a strict quota of pass/fails.
“They told us when we got our instructor license that we were to pass 80 per cent of our clients, regardless of how well or poorly they drive,” said the employee. “In fact, they even gave us the equation to follow — during even months, we fail every third person. In odd months, we fail every fourth.”
When asked about the formula, the MTO resonated their innocence. Sykes added that if they were innocent, “…the MTO would use a much more sophisticated formula, such as failing every second woman and every third man, but only on Monday afternoons and Thursday mid-mornings.
“Not that we do that,” he quickly added.
Disclaimer: Stories printed in the Fanshawe Distorter are in fact fictious. Any resemblance to persons real or dead is unintentional and entirely hilarious.
