Driving Schools. Who’s good these days.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Shazam

My 16 year old is going through the AMA, she did the class training in December and is starting driving lessons next week.

It's quite expensive.

I guess it’s hard to compare unless you’ve used different places, but is it worth it?

[photon]

I'd pay quite a bit to avoid teaching my kid to drive.

[Fuzz]

Once we get to level 4 autonomous driving, the cars themselves could probably be programmed to teach people to drive better than any person. Of course, once we get to that point, there might not be much need to learn.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Shazam

My 16 year old is going through the AMA, she did the class training in December and is starting driving lessons next week.

It's quite expensive.

How much is expensive and do you need an AMA membership as well?

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by photon

I'd pay quite a bit to avoid teaching my kid to drive.

I wouldn’t mind it so much with some basic skills learned first so I’m not white-knuckling the e-brake.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Shazam

My 16 year old is going through the AMA, she did the class training in December and is starting driving lessons next week.

It's quite expensive.

Probably because it can be. Options seem to be in short supply.

Originally Posted by photon

I'd pay quite a bit to avoid teaching my kid to drive.

I suppose it of course depends on the kid, I've taught 3 kids to drive and its gone perfectly fine.

They were all far too nervous with their mother in the car, so I did it, also, growing up riding with my buddies it takes a lot to scare me or for me to not know what to do.

It was actually a little fun. Only 1 kid actually took the leap to learn a manual though, but now she loves it.

She loved driving around when we went to Cuba while the other two had to sit in the back and watch! Bwahahaha!!

[photon]

I'm not sure how good a teacher I would be, and my kid can get frustrated with either of us pretty fast too, I think he'd do much better with a 3rd party teacher lol.

But yeah fair it depends on the kid.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by photon

I'm not sure how good a teacher I would be, and my kid can get frustrated with either of us pretty fast too, I think he'd do much better with a 3rd party teacher lol.

But yeah fair it depends on the kid.

I'm not saying its not hard. One of the most difficult things in the world is staying calm, but if you're calm they're calm.

I would imagine that professional driving instructors must have the world's highest rate of institutional alcoholism of any industry.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Locke

I'm not saying its not hard. One of the most difficult things in the world is staying calm, but if you're calm they're calm.

I would imagine that professional driving instructors must have the world's highest rate of institutional alcoholism of any industry.

I think there are a few things going for the instructors, the main one: not their car.

[Nufy]

We have to be certified every three years in order to rent / drive vehicles on behalf of the company I work for.

Oh the stories the evaluator would tell once he got comfortable with you during the road test.

He told of one young lady who got to the end of the block and he then told her to park the car and to call her parents to come get her.

One person showed up in a stick shift for her driving test and thought the instructors could teach her that day.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by photon

I'm not sure how good a teacher I would be, and my kid can get frustrated with either of us pretty fast too, I think he'd do much better with a 3rd party teacher lol.

But yeah fair it depends on the kid.

I find it’s a lot like helping with Math Homework.

There are all of these things you just know but don’t know how you actually learnt to do them or how it’s supposed to be done. So their is a big gap in the ability to explain vs what you expect them to do.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Locke

Probably because it can be. Options seem to be in short supply.

Good driving schools? Yeah.

[Deviaant]

I had a good experience at Skills Driving School.

Eh who am I kidding. The In laws own Skills driving school, if anybody wants I could likely arrange a small cp discount.

Vern and Linda are super kind and patient people and very passionate about what they do.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by GGG

How much is expensive and do you need an AMA membership as well?

Start here, look at each program's page. We did the Premium program. No need for a membership, there's a small discount if you do have one.

https://ama.ab.ca/driving-school/new...ograms-desktop

[btimbit]

I remember thinking AMA was a bit of a waste when I did it back in '07. The in class part wasn't bad, but the actual driving part basically just felt like all you paid for was someone to sit there while I drove around aimlessly and practiced myself (which, to be fair, was still a win to my parents, it meant they didn't have to do it) but they didn't actually teach or show me anything, I could have gotten the same experience with a parent, or a friend, or my brother, etc.

Could have just been a bad instructor though, I remember my brother had the same guy and said the same thing

[Shazam]

Believe me, when you f up they let you know.

Mine would pretend to sleep, if I veered even a foot from the middle of the lane he'd tap the brake immediately.

[photon]

Bump, anyone know of a driving school or instructor that would specialize in someone with ADHD/ASD? Seems like something that an instructor who understands the challenges there or a program specifically designed for that would be pretty helpful, but not finding anything. My kid is finally maybe interested in learning.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by photon

Bump, anyone know of a driving school or instructor that would specialize in someone with ADHD/ASD? Seems like something that an instructor who understands the challenges there or a program specifically designed for that would be pretty helpful, but not finding anything. My kid is finally maybe interested in learning.

We used AMA for my son, but he felt the instructor wasn’t really as helpful as they could be. I thought they were okay though and after his lessons I was more comfortable driving with him. We are trying another school (wife booked it, can’t remember name) for our daughter to see how that goes.

The thing that still makes me anxious when driving either kid is them, and maybe my fault, is not letting off the gas when the cars in front of them are stopping until the last moment. As a passenger not in control, it’s so disconcerting.

[Snuffleupagus]

I put my son thru Derek Brown's 10 years ago, they were fantastic, lots of class room with winter driving instruction and the dangers of distracted driving, he passed his test first try.

[Nancy]

For my oldest, who has ADHD-inattentive type, we chose a non-AMA driving school based off Google reviews. They didn’t teach her to drive so much that they taught her to pass the test. So, all the driving was on the testing route in our neighborhood. She passed the exam first try, but was a scary driver for the first two years, and had a fender bender.. I don’t have any suggestions for the ADHD aspect except that the online classroom course was a complete waste of money for her, she didn’t get far into it.

My youngest (not ADHD), I taught myself. He also passed first try and the examiner even wrote “excellent driving skills” in the comments section.