Why Simulation Training?

DriveWise has put together hundreds of Simulation programs that can teach every type of driver in the safe environment of virtual reality.

Imagine for a moment having to learn to drive for the first time without ever having been behind the wheel of the vehicle you are about to operate

• in winter conditions.
• During a Tire blow out
• When there is dense Fog, heavy rain or high winds conditions
• While operating a cell phone, texting, drinking
• When on country roads where deer or other wild life can randomly jump out of nowhere
• While impaired

These are just a few of the GOOD reasons why SIMULATION training makes sense!
These and thousands of other software programs can teach anyone what to expect in any situation when operating a motorized vehicle.  A better prepared driver makes a safer driver.

Have questions?  please feel free to call 905.875.0480 or 905.832.5222 one of our team will be happy to assist you.

Posted May 18th, 2011

Why Choose DriveWise Milton or Maple?

DriveWise has so much more behind their doors….see for yourself!

√ MTO approved Safe Start Program curriculum using exclusive DriveWise techniques
√ Learn skills in the safety of our FULL Size Simulator, not a computer screen game
√ MTO ex Driver Examiners Instructors on staff
√ Exclusive Eco Drive Training included w/ Safe Start, Endorsed by Natural Resources of Canada!
√ Classrooms have WiFi so you can get your Homelink Assignments done during lunch and breaks!
√ Get your License faster, with training done right the first time!
√ Learn how to MAXIMIZE insurance discounts with exclusive programs offered by our industry partner
√ Pick up and Drop off service and Appointments to suit your schedule
√ Easy Pay Plans available
√ Customized Corporate programs, Fleet Assessments & Advanced Training Programs
√ Free Seniors Refreshers Free Co-Driver Program
√ Exclusive Team & Charity Sponsorship Programs
√ ALL Inclusive pricing, with programs offered only at DriveWise Milton & Maple Training Centres
√ Community Road Safety Awareness Partner  with Halton Regional Police,  MADD, Halton Region, York Region, North Halton Injury Prevention Committee aka NHIP, CSC Seniors 55+ Alive , OSAID and more…
√ Providing Schools with Scholarships for Full Driving Programs, in Halton and York Regions
√ Regular Guest Speakers as part of the Safe Start Course that answer your questions about Insurance, the Law and your Rights!

Why would you choose anything less for your family or your business?

Posted May 17th, 2011

Why do Driving School Rates Vary?

Why Pay $699 For Driver Education?
In a June 2009 article, in the Toronto Star, experts were quoted analyzing the professionalism and success rates of driver schools according to price.  Not surprisingly, the Car Control School, Toronto Star "Wheels" contributor Ian Law, MTO trainers and even veteran drive test examiners, found that the driving school's success rate directly related to the price of the courses offered.

Statistics showed that schools who charged, well below the medium of $650.00 marker had high failure rates with students, whereas the schools who were at the medium or above had greater results with passing students and producing safer and more serious drivers.

This is a matter of life and death on the roadways and highways, why would you want to nickel and dime something of such great importance?

The cheaper schools surveyed tended to have an "end-load" whereby students would typically fail the road test repeatedly. For that we might think is a good thing if the student was not capable of passing, however it simply contributions to a diminished confidence, adds huge frustration, months of waiting, not to forget the additional expense on average $200 per road test, which is billings back to the student/parent. This is an industry that you can decide to pay now or pay later, but you will end up paying, let’s hope it’s not with your child’s life!

Not surprisingly, schools in the upper price range not only saved their client's frustration, and long waiting periods, ultimately more money was saved by doing it right the first time. Students are better trained for the road tests, better prepared for the real world of driving and confident about the road safety issues. 

Recently, at the Aurora test center a driving school owner witnessed three driving instructors whom were watching their sad-faced students emerge from failed road test exams.  While conversing with each other, he heard then state gleefully "now we will finally get to make some money"! Clearly these Instructors were being under paid and didn’t hold the same sense of pride and importance about the position they were hired to conduct.

When the student's hopes are dashed, a new lack of confidence and second-guessing about their driving abilities immediately creeps into their collective psyche. This indecision from lack of confidence, teamed with the action of driving could prove fatal for those who sought to chose the cheapest driver education course.
Please just “Beware of the End-Load" philosophy by paying less for driver education, it neither saves time, money or lives!

Recap of Cheaper Driving School Options:

1. Cheap driving schools at times can have three students in the car to cut corners on their cost 
2. In some cases they omit highway driving. 
3. No such training for high-speed lane-changing, large left turns, and potentially dangerous manoeuvers in city traffic. 
4. Failure rates are substantially higher
5. Lowered confidence directly impacts road safety performance
6. Increased costs for more “extra lessons”
7. Extra costs for additional Road Test & MTO fees
8. Delayed / Longer wait times to obtain drivers license

Another area of concern for Driver Education is the high school driving program.  Typically priced $549 - $599, as a public board price, parents assume their getting a good deal because it’s provided at the high school.  The reality of this scenario is that the students must sit through an additional 3-4 hours of driver education after having spent the entire day at that same school. Attention and absorption levels for intake of information have already been spent in that environment for the day.

This is when fooling around with their friends instead of paying attention to the valuable and potentially life-saving lessons, becomes their priority.  To add to that the in-car portion of the program now forces them to not only drive 10 hours behind the wheel, but to sit in the car an additional 10-hours while their mandatory driving partner also drives for 10 hours. This 20-hour experiment may be called "observation time" but to the students l it’s "texting time"!

The high school driver education program may provide vehicles for the in car training sessions, however “according to all school board policy” no students will get dropped off or picked-up from home.  Let’s assume a student were to book an early morning lesson on the weekend, they would have to walk or arrange transportation to the school and then get themselves back home again. Board of education contracts do not include the road test portion for the licensing process within their program either.

To recap High School Program Options:

1. Students have lack of attention spa
2. Parents are at the mercy of whatever the school prices dictate
3. Parents must navigate an already overloaded and complex system to arrange the booking appointment for the road test.
4. Then take a day off work and loose pay to take  their teenagers to some remote location for a road test 
   

A clear warning sign is when you look at the rates per hour for in car sessions make a note to self that if these rates are below $40/hr, chances are the instructor is not highly skilled, Provincial Government approved and trained.

Recap for DriveWise Driver Training  

1. DriveWise is proud to say “we rarely sell extra lesson packages to the students who come to us first.
2. Our Instructors are some of the best in the field all being MTO certified and approved.
3. Two of our instructors are ex MTO Driver Examiners who know what it takes to teach Driver Education right the first time.
4. We do not sacrifice quality for price when it comes to your child’s life!
5. Offer fair market value prices for the highest standard in Driver Training programs
6. Always raising the bar on performance for our student with training in the safe environment of our exclusive Life Size Simulation Training Machine
7. Provide Eco Drive Training as value added to the MTO approved curriculum at no extra charge
8. Give back to the community charities and amateur sports teams/ leagues through our successful Sponsorship Program

So much more when you walk through our door!

Posted May 16th, 2011

Sponsorship Program is working!

DriveWise Milton and Maple have launched the 2011 Sponsorhip Program and its working! The Milton Magic Girls Soccer Team were able to raise $1000.00 for their team last month. Does your team, school or charity need help raising money?

Since interest in the program is growing everyday, DriveWise has found a way to keep it going. Although we will not be able to keep the same extraordinary offer whenthe program was first launched, we were able to find a number that can work with great results for everyone.

It's simple.... refer or attend the DriveWise training program and your team, school or charity will receive $50.Instead of spending our advertising dollars on Media companies, we are investing it back into the community...help us help you and everyone WINS!

Now think.....Who do you know that will be needing their Driver Training soon, this year, nexct year? the program doesn't stop when you reach your goal, it can run month after month and year after year. Do the math, it sure adds up quickly, check it out.

Get with the Program... that works for you!

For more details contact Shelley Harmer at 647.299.9263 or drivewisemilton@live.com

Don't forget to join our friends on facebook at DriveWise Milton

Follow Marco on Twitter at DriveWiseMarco

Posted February 7th, 2011

Where you can find us online!

DriveWise wants to keep in touch with you. If there is anything you feel we should be doing to make it easier to share our information with others, just let us know.

Ever wonder what your favorite Milton Driving Instructor is up to? now you can find out by following him on Twitter. That's right checkMarco Claveau out at DriveWiseMarco. Tweet him and let him know what you are up to, keep the social in media... its fun and its free!

There has been a new Facebook Group, Facebook Page and Facebook Account set up, be among the first to join. Share your comments, photos and have fun meeting the others who took the DriveWise Courses or want to take them....

Search for DriveWise Milton

Another exciting new location was set up to share photos, video and map at Google Business Places.

Have a look and let us hear your reviews.

Remember to share with the easy Tiwtter, Facebook and other social media links!

Stay tuned our website is getting a facelift from the SiteDudes and we are exciting to see how you like it...be checking in after March 15, 2011 or watch for the announcements on FB,Twitter and news articles.

Posted February 24th, 2011

GREAT NEWS!

DriveWise Maple located at 9461 Jane St. in the main level unit 103 is now taking registrations for the March Break Classes. Be one of the very first students to gradate from this brand new facility!

DriveWise provides all the standard MTO approved courses and MORE! So much more with teaching life saving skills in the safe environment of Virtual Reality Simulation.

In addition to the already value added training programs only offered at DriveWise Training Centres, you will be among the first group of people to receive the Eco Drive Training program as part of your regular registration!

This is typically offered to Corporations with Fleet vehicles and Municipalities, Taxi companies and the like. The EcoDrive Program is promoted and used by Natural Resources Canada!

Being environmentally friendly is one thing, but you will alos be learning how to manipulate driving situation that will save you hundreds of dollars each year in fuel costs.

There is much more to see and expereince when you take any of the DriveWise Driver Education programs...so what are you waiting for? grab the phone and call 905.832.5222 Nancy is waiting to save a seat with your name on it...

.... stay tuned to the website for the up coming GRAND OPENING CELEBRATION details coming soon!

Zoom zoom

Posted January 13th, 2011

DriveWise Maple helps a worthy student

DriveWise Maple has been asked to contribute to the efforts of the Vaughn Citizen newspaper in helping out a young man who has lost his parents and has been forced to support his younger siblings.

Stay tuned for the news article being posted with picture in the Vaughn Citizen...we will also post the article on this website for you as soon as it is released!

Posted December 24th, 2010

New ECO Drive Program Now Available at DriveWise Milton!

DriveWise was proud to work with Natural Resources Canada for their Fuel Efficiency Program by developing a reporting system that measures, monitors, records and reports a driver’s habits based on their fuel efficiency. Using Natural Resource Canada’s five eco-tips and the DriveWise Six Star Approach, we are able to measure acceleration, braking, speed, following distance and fuel economy in order to compare it to a benchmark either set by the user or by a previous score.

Each scenario can be built and customized to specific training goals and marking criteria to ensure accurate results. The percentage required for a pass can be set by the user, policy or based on a standard provided by DriveWise. Each infraction is recorded and reported on both the replay and in the reporting system. The module graphs the participant in real-time so the instructor, evaluator or other class members can immediately see how the driver is doing. Results can be charted in Liters or Gallons and speeds can be tracked in Miles per hour of Kilometers per hour. The graph also displays their total amount of fuel consumed, percentage compared to the most ideal fuel consumption and rate of fuel being consumed (in miles per gallon or liters per 100 kilometers).

Lesson plans can be built using pre-existing scenarios or by creating risk-specific events to test a participant. Previous results are all recorded in order to evaluate multiple participants, preserve top results or to display a sample range of scores.

Criteria may include seatbelt fastening, speed management, space management, intersection driving, proper use of horn, entering/exiting school zones and pressure used on the gas and brake.

Each report can be exported in a variety of formats for use in programs like Microsoft Word, Excel and Adobe Reader (PDF).

Please contact our office for program specifications: 905-875-0480 or send us an e-mail.

Posted December 10th, 2010

What's in store for 2011!

During 2010 we offered a variety of promotion incentives to our students.

In 2011 we are changing that. You will not have to worry about missing a special or promotion again. DriveWise has crunched the numbers and has decided to simply LOWER the rates once and for all on every package we offer for the entire year. WHY you ask?

....Because it has come to our attention that the youth sports leagues are in need of help this coming year, and therefore DriveWise Milton and Maple have redirected a large portion of the 2011 regular advertising budget into sponsorships, to allow us to invest more into your community! That means we are counting our your support to share our message. By your continued support we look forward to contining to give back!

While everyone else is putting their prices up you will be able to count on DriveWise to provide you with consistent pricing anytime you are ready for your Driver Training courses!

PLUS we are adding more value to our existing courses ...Guest Speakers from the Insurance industry, get Legal Advice and learn how to get affordable legal coverage from the experts, Eco Drive SIM training and so much more valuble information gets shared in our classes. DriveWise is partnering up for your best interest and protection on the roads.

Together we can make a positive difference in our community!

Posted February 27th, 2011

Fail rates vary for driver test centres

Toronto Star Tuesday Nov 22010

Daniel Dale Staff Reporter

About half of the drivers who take their road tests in busy Brampton fail. In sleepy Kenora, the failure rate is lower than 20 per cent.

As Ontario’s driving instructors have long known, some examination centres fail a far higher percentage of test-takers than others. Now the company that runs driver testing for the province has instituted pass-fail “norms” for each DriveTest centre based on their widely varying past results.

At the Brampton centre, for example, examiners who conduct the road test required to obtain a G2 license have been given a failure-rate norm of 53 per cent, the highest in Ontario. Conversely, examiners in Oshawa, have been given a norm of 36 per cent. Kenora received the lowest norm, 7 per cent.

The norms, obtained via freedom of information request, vary even within the GTA. The failure-rate norm is 52 per cent in Downsview, 43 per cent in Oakville, 40 per cent in Aurora, and 36 per cent in Burlington. Norms are lower for locations within easy driving distance, such as Orillia’s 26 per cent.

Examiners whose pass-fail rates deviate more than 15 percentage points from a norm in any month are monitored to ensure they are following standard procedures. But the norms, approved by the provincial government, are not quotas. If the examiners are found to be following protocol, and their pass-fail rates are abnormally high or low because of a random streak of good or bad drivers, they are not disciplined.

“Employees were not told to adjust their work to accommodate the norms... variances may be perfectly legitimate,” said Paul Dalglish, managing director of Serco DES, which operates Ontario’s 55 examination centres.

“Deviation from the norm,” he said, “is only an indication of the need for further investigation.”

More than 50 examiners have faced “some level of remedial action” since the norms were introduced in January, Dalglish said. Remedial action includes both non-disciplinary measures, such as “clarification of expectations” and retraining, and disciplinary measures such as warnings and suspensions. “The vast majority of the follow-up with employees is non-disciplinary because that almost always has the desired effect,” Dalglish said.

Ontario does not require drivers to take their road tests near where they live, so many drivers strategically schedule the tests at far-flung locations where they think they will get an easier ride. Some Toronto driving schools charge $200 to drive students hours away to small towns like Bancroft.

Driving instructors say pass-fail rates may differ by location for a number of reasons, such as difference in traffic levels or the difficulty of test routes. Urban centres like Brampton may also attract relatively high proportions of immigrants unfamiliar with Ontario’s driving rules.

Ontario Safety League president Brian Patterson said the norms would help Serco monitor examiner performance. But he argued the government should force drivers to take exams at nearby locations so they are tested under conditions they will normally encounter. If the government does not, he said it should make tests more challenging in low-traffic areas.

Serco must maintain a monthly province-wide pass-fail rate within four percentage points of rates from the three years before the company took over from the government in 2003. The norms, therefore, were determined in part based on province-wide rates from that period. But most of the norms are nonetheless similar to location-by-location rates for the period between 2006 and early 2008.