BEST DRIVING SCHOOL FOR YOUR TEEN

Choose the best driving school for your teen

Car crashes are the leading cause of teen deaths in Canada. According to Transport Canada, drivers aged between 16 and 19 years are at the highest risk to succumb to vehicle crash injuries -- a scary thought for parents. But just being scared and doing nothing about it is not going to improve the situation.

It’s a fact - when parents get directly involved in helping their teens learn driving, teens become good drivers. One of the things that parents should do in this regard is to enroll the kids in a good and trusted driving school.

We have jotted down a few pointers to help the parents choose a good driving school for their teens:

1. Google – the friend of every searcher! Before you look into any other resource, start your search with Google. Just type in the keyword 'driving lessons' or 'driving course' (along with your area name) and you will get a long list of driving schools in your neighborhood. Now the next step is to zero in on the right driving school.

2. Visit the schools in the neighborhood. Ask these questions:

• Since how many years they are in this business?
• What is the qualification of the driving instructors? Are they certified?
• What are the ratings of the instructors?
• How many hours of theoretical and practical training are provided? How long is each session?
• Are the learners trained on current car models?
• Do they have male as well as female teachers?
• Will the student have same instructor for all his/her lessons?
• What safety features are in the vehicles?
• Are the vehicles dual controlled?
• Are the vehicles clean?
• Can they pick up your teen up after school, college or work?
• What types of tests do they have and how frequently?
• How much does the program cost? Are there any additional fees?

Note – it is always better to choose a school that has at least 5 years of experience. Make sure that the driving courses are MTO approved and are taught by certified trainers. Sending your teen to driving schools that aren’t MTO approved is not going to help your teen, as there’s no assurance that the driving instructor can drive safely, let alone protect or instruct a student about safe driving.

3. From a long list of schools, select at least 3-4 schools. Ask them to provide a plan for the lessons. A good school will follow a curriculum that explains the objectives to accomplish, content and progress of the instruction offered. You need to ensure that the lesson time is used efficiently. Before selecting a driving school you must get a clear picture of the progression in the instruction.

5. The school that charges the most isn’t necessarily the best one. You need to ask quotations from different schools and the lessons plus time to accomplish the objectives. Before selecting a school, compare the prices and the services being offered.