Chicagoans love their car horns, and it's not just because the city's drivers are among the rudest in the nation. It's because they're scared to death of blind drivers. That's right-blind drivers. Chicago Public Schools requires that all sophomores, even those who can't find their way to a car without a seeing-eye dog, take and pass driver's education. To be fair, as far as we know the visually impaired have no intention of climbing behind the wheel. But try telling that to the district bureaucrats, who require them to sit through ten weeks of instruction nonetheless. There are a few officials who understand the absurdity of the situation. But interest group politics being what they are, it will take a fight to remove the requirement. The chairman of the Illinois High School/College Driver Education Association (we're not making that up) argues that "you can never get enough traffic safety." That's right, and rule number-one is that friends don't let friends drive blind. Hoohah!
"Driver's ed for blind kids?" by Tracy Dell'Angela, Chicago Tribune, March 10, 2006