Many adult drivers have received tickets for speeding or other minor traffic violations in the past three years. In fact, it's a rare individual who can claim a spotless record when it comes to driving. But when your profession is teaching teenagers to drive safely and legally, you're different from "most" drivers.
The Deseret News found that 34 of the 206 driver education teachers in the six Wasatch Front counties have received citations in the past three years for speeding, keeping an improper lookout or failure to yield. Two have received citations for driving drunk.One of the DUI citations was issued in 1991, and the teacher informed school officials before he was hired. The other kept it a secret until the newspaper called him.
Five of the teachers had more than one violation in the past three years.
Most of the teachers, to their credit, were penitent about the citations. They said they feel driver-education instructors should be more accountable than other drivers to uphold the law because of their position and influence on teenagers learning to drive.
Why do newspapers print stories like this? The simple answer is that people deserve to be informed.
There is undeniable hypocrisy in a teacher who admonishes his students to drive within the boundaries of the law and yet does not drive safely and legally himself. But the failure to inform school officials about past infractions does not violate any current teacher-conduct rules or behavioral guidelines. Utah's schools have had a sort of "don't ask, don't tell" when it comes to the driving records of driver-education instructors.
Teachers can get a driver-education "endorsement" and keep it, no matter how bad their driving record is or becomes, because they are not required to report citations.
Now, that is likely to change. Since reporters brought the issue to their attention, state school officials are considering administrative rules that would require both the state's Bureau of Criminal Identification and the Driver License Division to report driving-related arrests to the State Office of Education.
Part of the proposed new rules would require a review of the teacher's record when certain offenses, including DUI, were reported. State school leaders should be commended for moving so quickly to remedy this problem.
The number of Utah teenagers involved in accidents and cited for driving violations has increased greatly in recent years. Having teachers who break the law only helps young drivers rationalize their own poor driving habits.
School officials and parents should know whether their children's teachers are practicing on the highway what they preach in the classroom. Such knowledge could make life safer for everyone.