Gerry's Driving Academy has been in business since 2006. The owner (Gerry Picard) is also very involved with the school and brings over 25 years of experience. Gerry has worked for a few of the Thunder Bay driving schools: Progressive driving school, Amethyst driving school and Superior driving school. He also had the chance to work for a driving school in the Toronto area. He is able to share his experience with his instructors and students giving them a unique understanding of what learning to drive is all about.
WHY I DO WHAT I DO! (I apologize as this might be a long ramble, but PLEASE READ)
Let me first explain what I do and why I do what I do the way I do it.
I took driving school when I was 16 years old, I attended a driving school that did not give care about me as a student. They only cared about my money. The reason I can say that is because I slept through the in class portion and none of the two instructors woke me up. Then I started my in-car training. My instructor was brutal, he did not say much, did not give much instructions and the one hour lessons felt like they dragged on for ever! However on the third in car lesson, he finally spoke to me and said I was a "good driver". Then he asked if I wanted to "sign off" the remainder of my 10 hours of behind the wheel training. At that point, I truly thought that was the smartest thing so I signed off the remainder of the 10 hours to finish my in-car training "quicker". And he also taught me the road test route so I can "pass the road test" (remember, back then we did not have the GRADUATED licensing in place, I was able to get my "full license to kill", oops, I meant to drive immediately). Probably one of the worst things that happened to me was me passing my FULL G license with NO experience. (It's funny cause I now talk to people who attended that driving school and most of them were "signed off" after only a few lessons. Interesting how many of us have not died seeing we had to learn the hard way!) But the driving school had our money, we had our license, parents thought we were taught properly seeing we "passed the road test" and this is where the conflict began. Being 16 years of age, as we all do, I was at the "I am invincible" stage of my life. Now looking back at what happened to me, I shake my head and now I try to help others understand how important it is when it comes to learning to drive.
The way I learned to drive safely and properly: I had 4 major crashes, one that people almost died in. I had 13 convictions that lead to 3 license suspension. I remember one car crash that I got into because I did not even know how to check a blind spot properly. But after hitting the car that was "hiding in my blind spot", I learned where to look and how to look properly.
You are probably asking yourself, if you were such a bad driver, how can you own a driving school? Well, seeing I am now 49 years of age and all this happened while I was "learning" in between the age of 16 and to about 22, you can say I "learned the hard way!"
I teach HOW AND WHY and I make sure the student understand's the consequences of their actions. If a students truly understands HOW AND WHY, they will be a better driver.
Example:
STOP SIGN. YOU DO NOT EVER STOP AT THE ACTUAL STOP SIGN! But "old school ways of teaching", people were TOLD to stop at the stop sign, roll up and stop again. THAT IS WRONG!
We TEACH them to THINK and make the right decision as there are three legal stopping positions: white line, side walk or edge of the intersection (you can find this information in the HTA of the drivers hand book, chap 3). But the "old schools ways" new drivers were TOLD what to do and not really understanding where to stop. We are trying to get new drivers to be able to THINK and make the correct decision!
So let's "brake" it down a bit more for you. The three legal positions are directly related to the PEDESTRIANS: White line / sidewalk, ped would walk there. If there is no white line of sidewalk, then the pedestrian would walk at the edge of the road (facing traffic) so then they driver would have to stop at the edge of the road. Understanding the basics of driving for new drivers goes a long way and that is why we have a co-driver lesson. By asking the parents / co-driver to attend the first in-car lesson, it helps experienced drivers deal with new drivers and help them become a confident and strong driver.
In my opinion, mixing driver education and money is a wrong combination. As I mentioned to you, I fell victim to this and I still hear that it happens to this date. I can only shake my head as I will never lower my standards and I will stand behind my "product" at the end.
We will not teach a student the road test route - we will teach them how to drive with skill and confidence - this can be achieve as long as they do their part. Their part involves taking driving seriously and practicing in between lessons. When a student completes our course, our road test pass rate with the drive test center is 99%.
WE ARE NOT A BIG BOX COMPANY USING A "COOKIE CUTTER" APPROACH.
Gerry started this business from the ground up!
WHY I DO WHAT I DO! (I apologize as this might be a long ramble, but PLEASE READ)
Let me first explain what I do and why I do what I do the way I do it.
I took driving school when I was 16 years old, I attended a driving school that did not give care about me as a student. They only cared about my money. The reason I can say that is because I slept through the in class portion and none of the two instructors woke me up. Then I started my in-car training. My instructor was brutal, he did not say much, did not give much instructions and the one hour lessons felt like they dragged on for ever! However on the third in car lesson, he finally spoke to me and said I was a "good driver". Then he asked if I wanted to "sign off" the remainder of my 10 hours of behind the wheel training. At that point, I truly thought that was the smartest thing so I signed off the remainder of the 10 hours to finish my in-car training "quicker". And he also taught me the road test route so I can "pass the road test" (remember, back then we did not have the GRADUATED licensing in place, I was able to get my "full license to kill", oops, I meant to drive immediately). Probably one of the worst things that happened to me was me passing my FULL G license with NO experience. (It's funny cause I now talk to people who attended that driving school and most of them were "signed off" after only a few lessons. Interesting how many of us have not died seeing we had to learn the hard way!) But the driving school had our money, we had our license, parents thought we were taught properly seeing we "passed the road test" and this is where the conflict began. Being 16 years of age, as we all do, I was at the "I am invincible" stage of my life. Now looking back at what happened to me, I shake my head and now I try to help others understand how important it is when it comes to learning to drive.
The way I learned to drive safely and properly: I had 4 major crashes, one that people almost died in. I had 13 convictions that lead to 3 license suspension. I remember one car crash that I got into because I did not even know how to check a blind spot properly. But after hitting the car that was "hiding in my blind spot", I learned where to look and how to look properly.
You are probably asking yourself, if you were such a bad driver, how can you own a driving school? Well, seeing I am now 49 years of age and all this happened while I was "learning" in between the age of 16 and to about 22, you can say I "learned the hard way!"
I teach HOW AND WHY and I make sure the student understand's the consequences of their actions. If a students truly understands HOW AND WHY, they will be a better driver.
Example:
STOP SIGN. YOU DO NOT EVER STOP AT THE ACTUAL STOP SIGN! But "old school ways of teaching", people were TOLD to stop at the stop sign, roll up and stop again. THAT IS WRONG!
We TEACH them to THINK and make the right decision as there are three legal stopping positions: white line, side walk or edge of the intersection (you can find this information in the HTA of the drivers hand book, chap 3). But the "old schools ways" new drivers were TOLD what to do and not really understanding where to stop. We are trying to get new drivers to be able to THINK and make the correct decision!
So let's "brake" it down a bit more for you. The three legal positions are directly related to the PEDESTRIANS: White line / sidewalk, ped would walk there. If there is no white line of sidewalk, then the pedestrian would walk at the edge of the road (facing traffic) so then they driver would have to stop at the edge of the road. Understanding the basics of driving for new drivers goes a long way and that is why we have a co-driver lesson. By asking the parents / co-driver to attend the first in-car lesson, it helps experienced drivers deal with new drivers and help them become a confident and strong driver.
In my opinion, mixing driver education and money is a wrong combination. As I mentioned to you, I fell victim to this and I still hear that it happens to this date. I can only shake my head as I will never lower my standards and I will stand behind my "product" at the end.
We will not teach a student the road test route - we will teach them how to drive with skill and confidence - this can be achieve as long as they do their part. Their part involves taking driving seriously and practicing in between lessons. When a student completes our course, our road test pass rate with the drive test center is 99%.
WE ARE NOT A BIG BOX COMPANY USING A "COOKIE CUTTER" APPROACH.
Gerry started this business from the ground up!