DrivingMBA in Scottsdale, Ariz., is the first company to bring affordable and beneficial driver training simulators to the market according to the ideal standards set by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (FTS). In 1995, the AAAFTS issued a comprehensive report describing its initiative to reinvent driver education into an effective safety intervention. The research project identified interactive multimedia units and simulators as the topmost important resources to develop in order to effect necessary changes in the presently deficient drivers’ education system.
DrivingMBA assesses a driver’s skills, implements a step-by-step learning strategy, and then simulates actual scenarios for the driver to practice – all the while providing information and feedback in a safe yet realistic environment. Instructors alter scenarios during sessions, giving constant feedback with a final comprehensive performance analysis. The various DrivingMBA simulators present over 400 scenarios and 30 lessons through graduated difficulty, then tests and reports results. DrivingMBA delivers what the AAAFTS dreamed of years ago.
Vehicular accidents are a major contributor to disability, premature loss of life, escalating costs of health care, insurance and social services. The AAAFTS report cited that economic turnaround combined with the turning of age of the newest generation - estimated to be much larger than the Baby Boom - would almost certainly increase the number and cost of crashes by novice drivers. This looming epidemic fueled the search for driver's education alternatives by the AAAFTS and other related organizations.
According to The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), “Every novice needs time to develop driving skills and the judgment to counteract their lack of on-the-road experience in low-risk settings.” The AAAFTS believes that ideal computerized driving simulation gives high-quality, low-risk driving experience – necessary experience that otherwise can be time and cost prohibitive to obtain, resulting in little or no supervised driving practice occurring at all. The AAAFTS predicted that interactive driver training simulators was inevitable; however, researchers didn't expect the required sophistication level would be affordable for the driver education industry this soon.
DrivingMBA, teamed up with SecureDrive, is the most complete, state-of-the-art driver’s education program using the latest simulator training technology and with AAA approved classroom and behind-the-wheel driver's instruction. The partnership between DrivingMBA and SecureDrive offers the finest preparatory program for pre-licensed drivers and is authorized to act as a third party by the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division to administer the written test for learner's permits and also the road test for driver's licenses.
SecureDrive uses AAA approved training materials for the in-class instruction. These programs are the industry leaders and feature interactive multimedia presentations. The instructors are certified by the MVD and receive additional AAA training. SecureDrive developed its proprietary curriculum after more than three years of research and analysis; the material has become a national model. SecureDrive professional driving instructors offer incomparable behind-the-wheel experience in dedicated, one-to-one on-road training.
“Through the DrivingMBA-SecureDrive partnership, students learn at an individual pace in a safe, focused environment,” says Maria Wojtczak, cofounder of DrivingMBA. “The coursework can be customized according to performance, allowing mastery of components before attempting tasks in a real-life setting. We are excited to enhance the simulator learning format with SecureDrive’s experienced classroom and on-road curriculum. Combined with SecureDrive’s excellent driving professionals and MVD testing program, DrivingMBA takes driver education into the future.”
About the Founders of DrivingMBA
Richard Wojtczak has over 30 years in automotive industry information systems and experience with organizational learning principles. For more than 20 years, Maria Wojtczak designed and facilitated organization development practices, including training and coaching high-profile executives in change management. Richard and Maria’s expertise came together in DrivingMBA to pioneer contemporary driver education, which is swiftly and dramatically improving the driving abilities of Arizona’s teens and adults.
About Secure Drive
SecureDrive is the only AAA Arizona approved training facility in the state and a legacy of the first driving school in the nation to be approved by AAA (as Community Services Associates, Inc. CSAI of Chandler, doing business as, Arizona Driving & Traffic Survival School). In addition, SecureDrive (d/b/a CSAI) is certified by the Arizona Supreme Court and licensed by the Arizona Motor Vehicle Department. Founded by Robert A. Simmons, a former 15-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, SecureDrive’s philosophy is that an informed community is a safer community - a better community.