El Cajon Driving School

We often have parents riding on driving lessons to observe how we teach and to see how their child drives on public roads. One of the most common questions parents ask is “What kind of car should I buy for them?”

The criteria we focus on are safety, reliability, and efficiency. That usually brings us to suggest used smaller sedans and smaller SUVs from Honda and Toyota, such as the Civic or Rav-4. For the surfers, maybe a Tacoma pickup. This article uses the same criteria and suggests a wider range of cars:

The Safest and Most Reliable Cars for Teens Buying a first car isn't as easy as it once was and parents have to pay a bit more for quality.

Our “Green Teen Driving Machine” fleet of 8 cars has always been very environmentally-friendly, with all cars rated for 34 mpg or higher. All of them have an image of our favorite planet on the side. But our newest cars go even further.

Welcome our latest three cars: two Hybrid models that achieve over 50 mpg, and one full-electric car. Learn how to drive the future with us!

A new highway safety statistic from 2020 makes it clear that you should always wear your seatbelt:
* 90% of people wear their seatbelt
* Of the 38,680 people killed in crashes last year, over 50% were unbelted.

Do the math: the 10% of unbelted people were 50% of the fatalities.
Always wear your seatbelt, and make sure everyone in your car wears theirs.

https://jalopnik.com/most-crash-deaths-in-the-u-s-were-unbelted-passengers-1847393555?utm_campaign=Jalopnik&utm_content=1627662613&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2GuWWDgktChnPakMYydEplb4T1x95ShJ0IbUB5kaxvFr8Oirl62lM6A_A

Most Crash Deaths In The U.S. Were Unbelted Passengers Or Drivers: Report The vast majority of people buckle up these days but some still don't.

These drivers haven’t been teenagers for decades, but we train more than teens. They still appreciated learning the latest techniques for staying safe on the road. Senior Gleaners gather fresh fruit from trees and leftover produce from grocery stores and deliver it to food banks and church groups to help those in need. We did a driver training class and individual in-car lessons so they can confidently adapt to this large van.

We are glad to hear about the new CDC guidance for fully-vaccinated people. Since we reopened in June 2020, we have taught over 2,500 in-car lessons with zero COVID infections. Our Healthy Habits procedures, including wearing masks, sanitizing our cars, and keeping windows down have helped us to teach new drivers while minimizing risk.

Most of our staff are now fully vaccinated, and we are happy to hear how many of our teenage students have been vaccinated. But we note that guidance still includes face coverings for vaccinated people in mass transit circumstances (airplanes, buses), which is most similar to our 2-hour lessons. And we don’t know of a confident way to confirm vaccinations of our students or their parents in our cars.

We will continue to follow our Healthy Habits procedures inside our cars as the guidance and conditions evolve. Hopefully, a lot more people will get their shots so some day soon we can see everyone’s smile again.

COVID-19 Vaccination COVID-19 vaccines protect against COVID-19. Get safety info and more.

We teach essential driving skills to more than new teenage drivers. We did classroom and individual driver training with these wonderful people who devote their days to autistic children needing patient guidance in life skills. They take them to outdoor activities in passenger vans.

Now they’re updated on the latest laws and techniques, including maneuvering a large van and staying mindful that it blocks the view of drivers behind. Using turn signals and avoiding unnecessary braking (that flashes brake lights) are crucial to communicating clearly with others who can’t see ahead.

All of us are vaccinated and stayed masked.

Our lesson curriculum includes teaching parallel parking, an essential skill if you drive to the beach!
But our step-by-step technique for a car is a bit easier than this...

Our Instructors are trained and our curriculum is focused on teaching defensive driving skills to over a thousand teenagers each year. As often as they are available, we also include parents riding in the back seat to observe how we teach and to learn the latest techniques for driving safety.
To help parents with an important decision after their teen has earned a drivers license, the article below reviews some of the safest cars to consider. While we don’t endorse any particular publications or vehicles, this looks like a good list to us.
Drive safely!

Best Used Cars and SUVs for Teens for Under $10,000 IIHS and NHTSA data show that these 13 options are the safest and most reliable for teen drivers.

We teach crucial driving skills like actively searching for hazards, properly adjusting mirrors to reduce blind spots, and being predictable to other drivers on the road.
Let us help you to not crash like a dummy.

We are reopening on Monday June 1st!

Now designated an “essential service” we will resume offering Driver Training lessons with new procedures to keep everyone healthy:
• No physical contact during lessons
• Sanitized training cars and hands
• Face coverings, Instructor and Student
• Windows down or A/C on fresh air setting
• Instructors have a recent negative virus test
• Students have no symptoms, and no one in their household has been ill for over 14 days

DMV has taken important steps: Permit expirations has been extended by 6 months, and they are calling to reschedule all March-June appointments to July or later. No driving tests are being offered now, so no new licenses can be earned, but now everyone has more time.

We have prioritized the many lessons we had to immediately cancel in March to have the first openings on our calendar. Our Office is ready to schedule later lessons, open weekdays 8:30-6 at 619.401.5342.

IMPORTANT NEWS:
Due to the statewide shutdown that has temporarily closed all driving schools (reopening in Phase 3) and DMV suspending all driving tests, LEARNER’S PERMITS EXPIRING UP TO JUNE 30th ARE EXTENDED BY 6 MONTHS.
Details here:

DMV Extends All Temporary Driving Permits California DMV Home Page is available for customers to check out publications, download forms, brochures, FAQs, Vehicle Information, Boats, Vessel, and Field Offices.

We are glad to know that California is making progress dealing with COVID-19, as *some* Phase 2 businesses open on Friday. Driving Schools are in the Phase 3 category, which involves people being closer than 6 feet apart. Our training cars aren’t that wide!
As eager as we are to resume teaching our thorough lessons, we are not able to restart yet. You’ll probably find out as soon as we do when Phase 3 begins. We can’t wait to (safely) see our students and their parents again!