You can’t always trust that other drivers on the road are going to drive responsibly. But you can always be proactive. That’s why we focus on teaching our students proper defensive driving for a variety of situations, from the GTA’s busy streets to Canada’s cross-country highways.
As part of the classroom theory portion of our Defensive Driver Training Courses, you will learn the essential components of defensive driving. Here is a very brief overview of the topics we’ll cover as we prepare you to be a responsible and proactive driver now and in the future.
Introduction: Easing in With The Basics
We’ll start by going over an introduction to the basics with you. This portion covers topics such as common misconceptions of driving in the GTA, the first steps of driving, the types of everyday traffic situations you may encounter, and more.
Road Traffic and Safety
This portion of the course will use short video presentations and practical information to teach students some of the necessary knowledge for driving on a daily basis, including the following components:
Road Signs
Learning to recognize the shapes, colours, and meanings of road signs, as well as the consequences they may face for ignoring them.
Lines
Students learn to recognize what different line styles and colours mean and how to safely abide by them, such as white dotted lines or yellow solid lines.
Traffic Controls
Our curriculum will teach students to obey different traffic controls, such as avoiding hazards, for safe and responsible driving.
Safety Features & Devices
This important component teaches students about the potential life-saving safety devices and how to use them effectively, such as seatbelts, airbags, and child car seats.
The Smith System
We’ll walk students through learning the Smith System, which is the Ontario industry standard for defensive driving and follows the “Five Keys to Space Cushion Driving.” The system includes guidelines and requirements for safe driving practices and driving visibility, such as the proper amount of space between vehicles as well as safely recognizing and avoiding hazards.
Handling Busy City Driving and Traffic
The Greater Toronto Area is home to busy cities with large populations, so it’s important that our driving school course teaches students how to handle busy city driving safely. This part of the defensive driving course includes elements such as safe merging practices, right of way, watching for pedestrians, dealing with traffic congestion, and more.
Vehicle Maintenance and Fuel Efficiency
It’s important that students learn how to drive economically and with respect to the environment by adopting fuel efficiency practices. We’ll show students how to be mindful of this as well as understand the important parts of vehicle maintenance for preventing accidents, including checking tire pressure, brakes, and oil changes.
Avoiding and Preventing Accidents
One of the key components of defensive driving is learning to recognize a potentially dangerous situation and avoid putting oneself in a situation where a collision could occur. This part of our driving course teaches students how to be proactive, practice the See-Think-Do method, and learn to recognize warning signs.
Impaired Driving Education
In Ontario, impaired driving is one of the leading causes of vehicle accidents, and each and every one of our driving students is required to learn about the risks and consequences of driving under the influence. We take pride in ensuring we provide adequate education about safe and responsible driving practices to keep drivers, as well as everyone using the road, safe from avoidable accidents.
Driving Attitudes and Responsibility
Like we said before, driving is a privilege that comes with great responsibility. Therefore, we know how important it is to teach our driving students how to have better driving attitudes and avoid peer pressure or influenced situations that could be a risk to their safety.
Handling Risky Situations
During this part of the course, we’ll give students the knowledge and training to handle certain driving situations that require more caution and attention, such as:
Weather Conditions
Highway Driving
Night Time Driving
Construction Zones
Emergency Situations
Preparing For the G2 Road Test
Once the students have gained the proper knowledge in learning how to be a more defensive driver, we’ll go over the components that they’ll need to know in order to succeed with the Ontario G2 road test, such as the tasks and maneuvers they’ll need to perform to pass. It’s our goal to make sure every single student is confident and ready to take the test once they leave our program.