BY WILLIAM MAJCHSZAK
Similar to medieval Roman Catholic Indulgences, teenage drivers can pay away their sins on Hamilton County Roads. The Hamilton County Juvenile Diversion Program allows them to pay to have points on their license “hidden” from the state if they are selected for the program.
Recently, I have gone through the program myself, and let me say, it has been nothing but disappointment. Several weeks ago, I was involved in a fender bender. Being under the age of 18, I was legally obligated to go to court instead of just paying a ticket.
Six hours down the drain along with $450 left me with nothing but a head full of steam.
The date was December 23, 2013, and I walked into the courthouse with both of my parents. We signed in and were informed I was eligible for the diversion program, so we took a look at the paperwork while waiting on my hearing.
After looking at the summary of the program (attached), we were unsure as to whether we wanted to make this decision. It was initially $350 to simply enter the program on behalf of the county, and another estimated $125 to take the class through a driver’s education company.
Right before entering the courtroom, a public defender walked by and asked us if we had any questions, so naturally, we asked his opinion on the matter. After assessing the situation, he said it would be foolish not to take the offer of the program. Being the legally dimwitted citizens we are, we decided to heed his advice.
After the hearing, we scheduled my class time with one of the six recommended companies provided by the court. A week later, I showed up to the driver’s ed classroom.
I realized that this six hour course was most likely not going to make the most thrilling Saturday I’ve ever had, so I went into the classroom with an open mind, looking to learn.
I thought to myself, “I’m here for six hours, I might as well make the most of it, and get something out of it.”
The first forty-five minutes consisted of everyone saying who they were, where they were from, and what they did to get “stuck” in this class. After most people said what they did, the teacher (a woman in her mid to late thirties) would almost gawk at their situation and sarcastically critique them. She told many students that there was no point in being there and they simply wasted their money and time by entering the program (one of which was myself).
She continued to tell us stories of previous students, such as how a young lady hit a police officer who was directing traffic at her school.
After previous students’ stories, the teacher told us about the creepy guy on Facebook who claimed to be a friend from high school. She was throwing insults at this guy like you wouldn’t believe and even though I’ve never met the poor man before, I felt sympathy for him. She told us how “creepy” and “weird” he was and read the messages he sent her on Facebook. Right off of her phone. To a class full of teenagers. Teenagers that were supposed to be improving their driving abilities.
The “teacher” continued to tell us of her traffic related run-ins with the police, which consisted of her and some of her buddies getting pulled over in Georgia. She advised her friend not to pay the speeding ticket she received and to simply never drive in Georgia again (or get pulled over and run the risk of getting arrested because of the warrant she now has).
There was another gripping story of her going to court after being “combative” with police officers in a traffic accident.
At this point I was in physical disbelief that this is happening. There’s a good chance my mouth was gaping wide open at the fact that my parents paid money for this.
We finally got into some educational activities after about an hour. She gave us all textbooks and worksheets and said to try to fill them out (there was a worksheet of about twenty five to thirty questions for each chapter and around fifteen chapters). She said we need not fill all of them out because she wouldn’t check them and to simply kill time with these.
She proceeded to go into the other room and watch television for another hour. I’m sure some kids were simply playing on their phones, but most were actually doing the work. There was no structure to the class and a good potential for students to come out of the class with little, if any new insights, but perhaps also annoyed with a system that had put them there in the first place.
The rest of the day consisted of unsupervised worksheets, unsupervised watching of videos, and several breaks. None of the videos were relevant to anybody’s charges nor were they very educational. Mostly tear-jerking movies about families of those who died in automobile accidents.
“The purpose of our program is to avoid future Juvenile related traffic injuries or fatalities by providing an education of traffic laws and safe driving behaviors,” says Caitlin Deters, the juvenile Diversion Coordinator.
Maybe the teacher of this class was misinformed about the program. She told several students that because of our age and because our insurance, companies already knew about the accident, there was no benefit of the class.
“In some cases this may or may not affect future insurance rates, but that is not the purpose of our program. We want juveniles to take a Driver’s intervention course and have our court magistrates monitor safe driving practices throughout the six month time period with check-in hearings,” Deters says in regards to insurances and purposes of the program.
Should the County be held responsible for allowing this sham of a course to be one of the possible classes taken for the program? Absolutely. I can’t blame the County for this problem entirely because I’m sure they have nothing but the best intentions when it comes to the program, it’s just a shame this has been one of the companies chosen by them. Does the ignorance of the teacher about the essence of the program make a valid excuse for wasting my time and money and the time and money of others. Surely not. Should the driver’s education company take the course seriously instead of reaping the money of teenagers? Unquestionably.
