Adding obstacles betters driving school's safety record

Memories of driver's education usually involve summertime, stressed out instructors and a mixture of excitement and nerves.

Memories of driver’s education usually involve summertime, stressed out instructors and a mixture of excitement and nerves.


Parents can either take on the task of teaching their children to drive or use a driving school, such as Lubbock’s Drive Train, owned and operated by Cindi and Terry Garrett.

“I’m a school teacher who needed a part-time job,” Cindi said.

The former high school teacher’s part-time gig as a driving instructor soon became a full-time passion. After receiving her certification, she worked for a now-defunct local driving school before going out on her own in May 2007.

Cindi had a difference of opinion with her previous employer about the way the school should have operated. He challenged her to open her own school if she thought she could do a better job than him.

Cindi accepted.

“It became a personal passion to be the best,” Cindi said.

Driving schools receive annual reports from the Texas Department of Public Safety with data about how many of their previous students were involved in accidents.

In fiscal year 2011, Cindi was informed 9.8 percent of her former students were involved in accidents. After learning this, Cindi said she “blew a gasket.”

“Every collision is avoidable if you’re completely aware,” Cindi said.

The problem appeared to be some students’ attaining a certain comfort level with Drive Train instructors and cars. These students struggled to pass their driving test at the Department of Public Safety.

Because all 12 of Cindi’s instructors were once able to administer the driving test, her students now take a mock test at the end of their training. If a student fails the test, she requires additional drive time on their own and another go at the mock test.

After implementing the new strategy, only 5.3 percent of her former students were involved in accidents during fiscal year 2012. Cindi said only two of those students went through an additional mock test.

In 2012, Drive Train instructed 1,643 students, compared to 1,485 in 2011. Most of those students are teen drivers who are learning driving skills for the first time.

Sometimes parents attempt to teach their kids at home, but many find their kids don’t take the learning process as seriously as they should. Cindi said several parents a week contact her school to enroll their teen in her program.

Student drivers younger than 18 must complete 32 hours of classroom training, 14 hours of in-car time and 20 hours of practice driving with a licensed operator 21 years of age or older. Ten of those 20 hours must be done after dark.

Drive Train students are exposed to multiple types of roadways and weather conditions, Cindi said. She encourages parents to bring their teens to driving school during inclement weather as long as conditions are not dangerous.

“So they’re not figuring it out on their own in a parking lot,” Cindi said.

A huge problem for teen drivers is knowing what to look at and making appropriate decisions about what they see, Cindi said. Sometimes they don’t see a hazard in time to react, and they do see their response time is not effective.

Drive Train uses Dialogue Driving to deal with this issue, Cindi said. Students should call out anything they see that might cause them to change directions or speed.

If the student misses something, the instructor will bring it to the student’s attention, Cindi said.

Some things never change: new drivers still struggle with parallel parking because they forget to use reference points as aids, Cindi said.

“Parking is a big, big issue if they are not using markers within the car,” Cindi said.

Older drivers or new adult drivers are a completely different challenge to instructors. Cindi said oftentimes adults have the attitude that they are buying a driver’s license.

“The task is very different,” Cindi said.

She disagrees with this attitude and tries to instill a different one within those types of students. When students realize Drive Train can not only help a person get their license, but teach them safe driving, the task of teaching becomes easier.

Adult drivers older than 18 account for 250 to 400 of Drive Train’s students each year. Many adult drivers are people from urban areas used to mass transit systems or foreigners who are not accustomed to U.S. driving laws.

A student from India told a Drive Train instructor that, in her country, if you make it to your destination without hitting someone or something, you are a good driver, Cindi said. This is one type of thinking Cindi would like to eliminate.

Adult drivers are required to have less classroom instruction than teen drivers, but Cindi won’t let any adult behind the wheel of one her fleet’s Ford Fusions without taking a 6-hour defensive driving class.

Driving is such a huge part of the American culture, and people spend so much time in their cars and personalizing their cars that they become an extension of the person, Cindi said. She hopes to influence her drivers to be safe and change the trends.

“Everybody thinks it’s a personal thing when people get in the way,” Cindi said.


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From driversedguru.com

Driving quiz

1. A double, solid yellow line indicates:

A. That no passing is allowed.

B. That passing is permitted if it is safe to do so.

C. That it is illegal to make left turns.

D. That the speed limit will not exceed 35 mph.

2. It is permissible to drive faster than the speed limit:

A. To keep up with the flow of traffic.

B. In the case of an emergency.

C. When being tailgated.

D. Under no circumstances.

3. In general, you should signal at least how many feet before making a turn?

A. 25 feet.

B. 50 feet.

C. 100 feet.

D. 200 feet.

4. It is legal to make a right turn on red:

A. At any intersection.

B. Only at three-way intersections.

C. As long as there isn’t a “No Turn on Red” sign posted at the intersection.

D. It is never legal to make a right turn on red.

5. The center turn lane is used:

A. To safely pass slow moving vehicles on the left.

B. To begin and end left turns.

C. Strictly for making U-turns.

D. As an emergency pull-off.

6. When more than one car is stopped at an intersection, which car has the right-of-way?

A. The first car to arrive at the intersection.

B. Any car making a right turn.

C. Any car going straight through the intersection.

D. Any car making a left turn.

7. Driving significantly slower than the speed limit under normal driving conditions:

A. Is the safest approach to driving.

B. Tends to increase the risk of an accident.

C. Tends to decrease the risk of an accident.

D. Does not impact the risk of an accident in any way.

8. If two vehicles come to a stop at a four-way intersection simultaneously, who has the right-of-way?

A. The larger of the two vehicles.

B. The vehicle on the left.

C. The smaller of the two vehicles.

D. The vehicle on the right.

9. When must you use your headlights?

A. Between 30 minutes after sunset and 30 minutes before sunrise.

B. Between 30 minutes before sunset and 30 minutes before sunrise.

C. Between 30 minutes before sunset and 30 minutes after sunrise.

D. Between 30 minutes after sunset and 30 minutes after sunrise.

10. If you are traveling 55 mph on an expressway with a speed limit of 65 mph, which lane should you be traveling in?

A. Any lane you want to.

B. The far left lane.

C. The far right lane.

D. The middle lane, if there is one.

Quiz answers: 1. A; 2. D; 3. C; 4. C; 5. B; 6. A; 7. B; 8. D; 9. A; 10. C