At the Drivers Advantage students will learn critical skills and techniques that will assure their safety, their passengers’ safety and the safety of others on the road.
A Background in Law Enforcement
Our instructors’ background as law enforcement officers provides them with training in advanced defensive driving and an understanding of complex vehicle dynamics. Officer Dale Harrison incorporates this knowledge into the Drivers Advantage curriculum, teaching his students critical driving techniques and skills that go beyond those found in traditional drivers training programs.
Officer Harrison has also incorporated his first-hand experiences as a trained crash site investigator into the curriculum as well to remind his students of the realities of unsafe driving. In citing these past experiences, he is able to illustrate to the students how an understanding of the skills and techniques he’s presenting in the course could have prevented the crashes he encountered in the past – saving those involved from harm, and even death.
Drivers Advantage Approach
The Drivers Advantage Philosophy is centered on our commitment to safety. While most traditional driving schools focus on basic vehicle control skills and interpretation of traffic laws, our approach focuses on safe, life long driving skills.
Our commitment to safety begins with our Drivers Education course, which incorporates critical skills such as hazard recognition and response, as well as risk management exercises that contribute to safe driving techniques.
All behind the wheel training sessions include individual evaluations of each student’s performance and progress. For segment one students, The Drivers Advantage will inform parents after the 4th driving session if we feel a student isn’t responding to behind the wheel training. We will invite the student’s parent or guardian to ride along with the instructor and student during the next driving session which is a great opportunity for parents to stay actively involved and observe firsthand how their son or daughter is driving. This is also an excellent opportunity to discuss with the instructor his or her recommended training exercises specific to the new drivers needs.
All segment one students are provided a final drive evaluation in which 10 different areas of their driving are scored. This evaluation will detail the new driver’s strengths as well as areas needing improvement. This is also an excellent tool to assist parents in preparing to “coach” their new driver.
Our commitment to teaching safe driving skills continues in our advanced courses. Our Traffic School seminar assesses each student’s “level of risk” on the road in a self-awareness workshop. Students go on to discover strategies to develop defensive driving habits such as: Safe Vehicle Operation, Space Management, Speed Management, Crash Awareness, Knowing Vehicle Dynamics, and New Traffic Laws.
A Certified Program
The Drivers Advantage is a Michigan licensed driver’s education provider, fully bonded and insured.
The owner of The Drivers Advantage driving school, served 10 years of his career as a police patrol officer before taking a position as a traffic officer in 2006. He is a trained crash investigator, motor carrier enforcement specialist, and has extensive training in traffic law. He also has served as a motor cycle officer and has been trained extensively in areas of precision and evasive maneuvering techniques. He is a certified child safety seat technician and is a Michigan state certified driver’s education instructor. He has been teaching driver’s education to teens and adults since 2004 and in 2007 he created the traffic school seminar. In 2008 he founded The Drivers Advantage driving school.
In addition to Mr. Harrison’s staff of driver education instructors meeting Michigan’s driving coach certification requirements, every Drivers Advantage Instructor is personally trained by Mr. Harrison to insure new drivers receive consistent professional training.