Why Choose a Driving School?
Learning to drive is as scary as teaching a person to drive. When your teenager hits the age of being able to get their learner’s licence, enrolling them in a professional driving school is the best decision you will ever make. This choice may even end up saving their life.A driving school allows a teenager to learn the techniques in a safe environment. With minimal distractions, many new drivers find a driving school a good place to start as it helps to build confidence before actually taking to busy roads.
The current licencing system mandates a driver do 100 hours of driving, but who prepares you, to prepare them?
This unfortunately is where the entire process starts to head south, in fact, what separates a “Professional” driving instructor from yourself, your parents or any other supervisor. What will define the process, how are you going to measure the parameters to know if your are on track or deviating down a one way path?
It is interesting that in this day and age, this is the only industry that does not have a definition for what it stands for, for what its curriculum projects from.
A program called “The Keys to Drive” received $20m. in government funding, yet its principle call to action is to tell parents to sit still, stay quite and let the student driver work out how to do it……..
Lets think about that for a moment, can you name another form of education, that actively encourages the student, to define the learning process and find their own way?
Then they sit a driving test, where the governments own statistics state their post licence accident rate, will spike 30 times their prelicence accident rate. That as a group, they will represent only 12% of the driving population and yet be responsible for 27% of all vehicle accidents.
What this all shows, is that the approach and emphasis of the driver training and preparation, is misplaced when it comes to student capability and proficiency.
So, back to our original question, how do you start teaching your kids how to drive this summer?
How do you select a driving school?
How do you ensure you are making the most correct decision, that will help them against the statistics and odds?
I would love to give you a magic bullet, tell you the industry is full of professionals and that your kids are in safe hands. But the governments own statistics show this simply isn’t the case.
Q. How to chose a driving school.
A1. Is there only value proposition how quick, and how cheap? Or is their focus skills development, with process, reporting and communication that involves you, the parents, as a stakeholder in the process.
A2. If they offer packages, is that just a grouping process, that offers discounts as an incentive for bundles of lessons, but does not clarify what the lessons are, apart from driving around for an hour of time?
A3. What is the instructors backgrounds? What makes them qualified as a professional driving instructor? Any person can do a course, it is simply a four day course in how to run a small business, they are told they will learn the rest for themselves as they go. (I kid you not)
These are a starting point to what I would be looking for if I was looking for a driving school to prepare my son or daughter.
As a professional, it often intrigues me, that as the learner driver training industry has no value proposition, apart from how quick or how cheap. Parents use this as part of their decision making process, yet what they are trying to protect, has infinite value and is irreplaceable. I have unfortunately known a couple who did loose their child, through cancer, the loss was a destructive on their lives, love and emotions, as the cancer was with their child.
Driver training is not a cost, it is an investment. The way I would approach the decision, is the same as for any big decision, car, house, education.
Who is the best in their field
Whose information will protect me and guide me safely
Who will actually deliver and be accountable, long after the sales pitch has been delivered.
Keep Christmas Safe
Regards
Gene
