Mailbag: Young drivers are cheating the system

In response to Nareh Bodaghian’s sincere letter, “Too many bad drivers have licenses,” on July 12, the problem with Glendale drivers occurs before the DMV test.

Applicants must take driving classes. After completing these classes they receive certificates, which are required by the DMV to take the test. When I was a driving instructor, my students told me that their friends purchased “black market” driving certificates to skip this instruction.

The problem is that students are not made aware of the dangers of driving recklessly without respect for the law.

Young people without experience may not realize that the two minutes they save by speeding and disregarding laws set them up for accidents that often have terrible consequences. A driver who is speeding, or who coasts through a stop sign or drives along a freeway shoulder, probably thinks that one only needs to pay attention to avoid an accident. But that driver is not thinking about the unexpected — a car coming out of a blind driveway, or a disabled vehicle on the shoulder. These hazards can often be avoided if the driver is staying within the speed limit, obeying laws and is conscious of the constant danger of unexpected occurrences.

This is why parents, who often have forgotten how difficult learning to drive can be, need to be aware when they choose how their children learn to drive. Because many young people are not aware of these dangers, the selling and buying of forged DMV driving certificates is not only fraudulent, it is setting them, and their loved ones, up for accidents, injury and possible death.

Jim Nasella

Glendale

Glendale already has a jewel of a brand

I share Gary Huerta’s view of the use of a Tennessee firm to “brand” Glendale (“Branding needs to be ironed out,” July 13.)

I thought we already had a brand: the Jewel City. That brings to mind a gem, quality, substance, at least to me.

Perhaps subsequent city investments should be in public amenities that enhance that image and broaden it to include sustainability. That incorporates the current efforts spearheaded by the L.A. County Bicycle Coalition and the Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets plan to make the city’s streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists, and the Coalition for a Green Glendale’s community gardens.

Sharon Weisman

Glendale

Hoping GCC hires more teachers

I am an international student in Glendale Community College and still struggle to get into a class (“GCC students have no reason to gripe,” July 7).

The first time when I enrolled, in 2009, there were a lot of classes, but now I guess the school can’t accommodate all the students. Some of classes have more than 50 people, so it makes attending a lecture challenging.

Some students have to change their plan to transfer because they did not take a class they need. I had to modify my own plan. The school must do something to help the students.

I am hoping Glendale Community College will hire more teachers to make more seats available for students.

Kitae Park

Glendale