New Airway Heights driving school aims to get beyond the instruction manual to teach students good driving habits
By RYAN LANCASTER
Staff Reporter
For those who've held their driver's license for more than a few years, getting behind the wheel to begin the daily commute is probably about the time automatic pilot kicks in.
Harold Denton never wants the new drivers who finish his course to get to that point. By preserving a beginner's awareness of what's happening around their vehicle, he's confident his students can steer clear of any potential collision catastrophe.
Denton is the owner/operator of Assurance Driving School, which opened late last month in Airway Heights at 13124 West Highway 2. The school currently offers a new driver program, with plans for an adult driver course in the near future.
While the curriculum for driver instruction is regulated by the state, Denton said what he teaches goes beyond the mandatory lesson plans, educating students of the risks to create conscientious drivers with good lifelong habits. “In a potential collision situation, when you're forced to react quickly, what kicks in are the habits, either good or bad,” Denton said. While good habits might save your life, he said, bad habits often result in steep costs, whether in terms of money or regret.
Denton and the school's other instructor, Duane Goetz, both have some unique credentials for teaching students the art of safe driving. Goetz recently retired after 25 years as a license examiner and Denton, a driving instructor for the past four years, was once a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, where he sometimes witnessed the grisly result of an oblivious motorist. “Many drivers are unaware of the risks they pose to other drivers, the hazards they're capable of creating,” he said. “I could tell you story after story of the horrors I've seen.”
Before becoming licensed to instruct both drivers and other driver trainers in Washington and Idaho, Denton drove tractor-trailers throughout the Northwest. He is also a former career counselor, with a degree in counseling psychology and a certification in life management skills. This last qualification makes him especially sensitive and concerned for young people who are at a “rite of passage” point in their lives, he said.
The Assurance new driver program begins with a one-hour parent orientation class before students begin 30 hours of in-class instruction, six hours of behind the wheel experience and six hours of learning by observation, plus a refresher lesson within a week prior to the licensing exam.
Denton said he and Goetz use this time to try to inspire confidence and self-respect in students so that they can take responsibility for their own actions when on the road. “It takes two vehicles to collide,” he said. “It gives students more control when they're not blaming other ‘crazy drivers.' The locus of control is brought back behind the wheel when you understand that it's not the driving environment that's in charge of the driver, it's how we respond.”
Denton said he's still working out the finer points of how to best meet the needs of the West Plains community, but hopes to tailor fit Assurance offerings for area high schools and individuals, including a winter driving course and the possibility of scholarships for low income families.
For more information on Assurance Driving School call 443-5082 or visit http://www.assurancedriverservices.com.
Ryan Lancaster can be reached at [email protected].
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