To the editor:
On Feb. 13, my son and I went to get his driver’s license at the Aurora DMV. He left to take his road test and returned shortly after telling me there was a problem and he was noticeably flustered. He said he thinks he failed because he didn’t pull over in front of a fire hydrant as instructed to demonstrate a parking maneuver.
My son knew it was illegal to stop and/or park in front of a fire hydrant so he refused and kept driving. The instructor told him to pull over several times and said if he did not he would fail. When he returned, the instructor confirmed he asked my son to perform something illegal and because he didn’t comply failed him. The instructor said the area in that location is limited on space and we have approval from the police department to do that. I asked him if he told my son that. He said, no, his job was to listen. I replied under no circumstance was my son to listen to anyone who asks him to do something illegal. We left the facility because I was told he could not retest in the same day.
I called the Aurora Police Department and they confirmed they don’t give permission to anyone to break the law, so I filed an official complaint with the state department. I spoke to Scott Stein at the state department, who spoke to me in a disrespectful, condescending manner indicating my son was incorrect for not listening. I told him the police confirmed there is no such agreement and he said, “Of course they will tell you that.”
I couldn’t be more proud of my son for standing up to an adult in an authoritative position who asked him to do something illegal. Unfortunately his 16th birthday didn’t go as planned. I’d hoped the instructor would have been reprimanded at the very least to conduct the driving the test in a legal manner.
Icing on the cake would be to know he received disciplinary action for his intimidation method of a minor. Neither happened in this case. What kind of message does this send to our youth?
Heed my advice. Drive the extra mile and avoid that location!
Tanya Wik
Batavia