About the Driving Unlimited Academy:
General Info
Did you know you can start your training at 15?
Welcome to the home of the Driving Unlimited Academy. We are a unique organization that allows young drivers to benefit from the same high level courses and instruction as the adults that we teach in our advanced driver training sessions. At Driving Unlimited Academy, you can start your training at 15 even before your have taken your Knowledge Test and received your Class 7L. This is because our training takes place on our private driver training facility. Our successful philosophy is to separate the operation of the vehicle with the road rules - therefore developing drivers with stronger skills and better awareness and behaviours.
Driving Unlimited Academy is the only driving school with a private off-public-roads facility for driver training in the Lower Mainland. Learn the basics of car control before you drive on public roads in traffic! Our company has conducted advanced driver training for 15 years, working with police, corporate/fleet and performance driving clients. Our instructors bring their extensive background in advanced training to our ICBC licensed school.
About Us
Driving Unlimited Academy is ICBC GLP-Approved. Driving Unlimited Academy is a unique driver training organization. Our background is in advanced driver training and our goal is to teach our students how to really drive - not just pass the test.
Driving Unlimited Academy stems from Driving Unlimited, one of Canada's best known advanced driver training companies. Driving Unlimited has been in business for over 10 years providing advanced driver training for many police forces, corporations and government agencies. We have trained the Vancouver Police Department, New Westminster Police Service, Port Moody Police Department, RCMP special task forces, Metro Vancouver (GVRD), WorkSafeBC, departments of the Government of BC and Government of Canada. We also teach advanced driving to groups and car clubs as well as the general public. We travel all across North America to provide advanced driver training. All of our instructors are professionals with extensive backgrounds in performance driving and teaching. When we are not teaching you to drive, we are teaching the police. We have lots of experience and we know what we are doing!!
Our philosophy is unique - we separate the two portions of learning to drive - the motor skills and the road rules. It is too overwhelming to try and learn it all at once - which is how it is done at traditional schools. Since it is such a large task, putting the students on the road right away prevents them from fully absorbing and understanding the factors and skill sets that will make them lifelong safe drivers. With traditional driver training, it is hit or miss as to whether the students will become "good" drivers later in their careers. Because there is so much to learn, and such a challenging environment to learn it in, most schools simply prepare students to pass their test - instead of teaching them how to truly understand driving.
By starting drivers on our private driver training facility, we see a lot more progress and true learning. Our first job is to teach the students to operate a vehicle. What does it feel like to hit the brakes? What does it feel like to hit the throttle? How do we sit properly in the car? How does it feel to engage ABS? How do we avoid an emergency? How do we use our vision properly? We are unique because we incorporate our techniques and training from our high level advanced training programs into our young driver programs. That equates to better training with long term results.
Why Choose Us
Did you know that 80% of drivers who are trained by a driving school will get into a collision within the first 2 years of their driving career?
That is a sobering statistic! We believe that the reason for that statistic is that driving schools in BC are not teaching students to drive - they are simply teaching students to pass the road test. Instead of teaching vehicle dynamics and operation skills, schools are simply teaching students road rules and the skills necessary to meet the requirements of the examiner. Some schools even use their lesson time following examiners on their road test route over and over. These schools are simply preparing students to pass that specific test, while ignoring the overall skills of driving. That is a short term goal - therefore causing problems in the future.
Our belief is that when we teach students the proper skills, the road test is simply a formality - because the skills are embedded! That is a big difference - and that is what is going to make a good lifelong driver.
Below are some of the reasons that we offer superior driver training...
WE HAVE THE BEST INSTRUCTORS! Ask around at any other school you are comparing with. Ask them how long their instructors have been teaching, and who else they teach. Unlike us, most are not drivers by profession. We did not make a career change to all of a sudden start teaching driving like many instructors, we have been teaching advanced driving for over ten years. Other instructors don't have the knowledge and background that we do. They can teach you to pass the test, but not how to really drive and control the car in all situations. As well as teaching young drivers, we also regularly teach elite drivers such as the police and high performance drivers.
LEARN WITH NO STRESS! One of our biggest assets is our private driver training facility. Instead of trying to learn how to drive on the city streets will all kinds of other vehicles around - which is very nerve wracking - we start students out by themselves on our private 500'x1000' asphalt training area. They start by learning to operate the vehicle through a series of cones. This makes that critical learning stage more effective. There are no other cars, no obstacles, and no pressure - only a bunch of orange cones!
STUDENTS GET MORE DRIVING! All GLP courses have the same minimum hours, but only our school uses the extra 3 "discretionary" hours for driving sessions instead of classroom sessions. In that time, students will get a 3-hour Collision Avoidance course where they will put all their skills to the test on our private training facility and learn more advanced techniques such as how to avoid and deal with emergency situations and how to control skids.
START TRAINING AT 15!! Because we start drivers on our private training facility, drivers don't need their Class 7L for the first few lessons! This allows drivers to not only get a head start on training, but also leads to a safer situation - having a driver with some lessons under their belt by the time they start driving the family car on public roads!
CO-PILOT INVOLVEMENT! We believe that students develop more thoroughly if there is positive co-pilot involvement. We invite our co-pilots to attend classes and stay active in the learning process. Our Mid-point review involves three parties - the student, the instructor and the co-pilot. This ensures that students are staying on track and that they are having the proper techniques reinforced while driving with their co-pilot.
HIGH SUCCESS RATE = SAVING MONEY! We understand that driver training costs money. However, proper driver training from the best in the industry means that you will more than likely save money in the long run. Chances are that a fully trained driver through our program will pass their road tests on the first try. Re-tests are expensive too, and it is not uncommon for students without proper driver training to fail their first (perhaps even their second) attempt at their road tests. Just one re-test at each level would cost an extra $100 in test fees alone. Also, we have statistics to prove that drivers who have been trained by us have less road incidents, therefore reducing the long term costs of damage repairs and insurance rate increases.
Visit www.duacademy.com/ for more information.