The Flushing T&E Driving School in Queens, New York, was recently prosecuted for long-term bribery of DMV examiners and assisting a large number of Chinese illegal immigrants and those who cannot drive to obtain driver’s licenses illegally, making the long-standing phenomenon of driving schools guaranteeing passing the test and buying licenses in the Chinese community the focus of public opinion. An office of the driving school on 8th Avenue in Brooklyn was empty on the 3rd. Students who had taken classes there said that in addition to the poor class experience, they had seen the price tag of the driving school for buying licenses on the bus, but they did not agree at the time because the price was too high. After the scandal was exposed, he thought the penalty was too light. The driving school coach also pointed out that this behavior may turn drivers with no driving skills into road killers and cause social problems.
The T&E Driving School case involves a total of 139 charges. Eight driving school and DMV personnel involved in the case have been prosecuted, and another 24 people have been arrested. The case may affect at least hundreds of people. However, this kind of quick driver’s license method has long been common among Chinese in Brooklyn. After hearing the news, local residents admitted that “this is very common” and more driving schools may be investigated in the future.
Tang Yu, who lives in Flushing and was introduced by a friend to take classes on Brooklyn 8th Avenue last year, said that he spent about 450 to 500 yuan to buy 20 lessons at the time, but because the driving school arranged to take the test in Staten Island, he was charged a bridge toll and a five-hour preparatory driving course certificate (MV-278) that should have been included in the tuition after three tests. When talking about the course experience, he said that the instructor not only did not teach on time, but also found time to go to the bathroom and buy drinks in the middle, and even ended the class early. Each class reduced the class time by more than 10 minutes, and the instructor would repeat what he had already learned, which made him feel very bad.
He revealed that when he was in class, he saw a price tag for buying a license posted inside the car for students’ reference. The price was 1,300 to 1,500 yuan at the time. When he failed the test for the first time, the instructor also asked him if he was willing to buy a license, but he declined because the price was too high. When he was taking the test, he saw that the instructor had a warm relationship with the examiner, and the instructor even seemed to hand the examiner an envelope, which made him wonder if he was treated differently because he did not buy a license. Tang Yu also said that he had asked other students about their motives for buying a license, and the other party said that “they urgently needed to go to other states for work” or “family reasons” and had to get a driver’s license as soon as possible. Although he learned from the news that the driving school was sued, he believed that the penalty was far from enough and illegal businesses should be punished as they deserved. Coach Yu, who teaches in New York, said that the difficulty of taking a license in Brooklyn varies. Coney Island is the most difficult, but Staten Island is the easiest place to take the test because of the low traffic and simple road conditions. He admitted that students had asked him in the past whether they could buy it directly, but he refused. He said that driving is about controlling the road surface, direction and speed. “People who don’t have the basic skills to drive will definitely become road killers, harming others and themselves.”
