Story by Keith Griffin
As published in the Living on the Shoreline Magazine
This holiday season consider giving a gift that could be used every day: driving school. While it's great for teens, it's also something parents and older drivers might find useful, too. Executives who travel to unstable parts of the world could receive advanced security-driving instruction.

Driving is much like the martial arts. The more you know, the less aggressive you are. In somewhat the same vein, it takes only a little bit of instruction to realize how much there is to know about driving.

 Although these principles associated with these laws which govern vehicle dynamics can get quite technical, our instructors have the ability to translate this technical information into simple and very understandable theories; more importantly, they put these theories into practice. Our students not only experience what is happening, but understand why it is happening and therefore quickly learn how to deal with it and even prevent it," Ricci said
Probably the best lesson that Anthony Ricci teaches in his full-day "Car Control Clinic," is: would you want to be another driver facing you driving down the road? Ricci is president of Advanced Driving and Security Inc., (ADSI) a driving school based at Quonset State Airport in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.

    The all-day driving course, called a Car Control Clinic, costs $300. Couples and family discounts are available. Insurance discounts might be available after taking the course, depending on your insurance carrier. Ricci offers the discount so parents and children can take the course together and learn together.

    ADSI also offers a two-day nanny course that starts at $850. It's designed for professional caregivers that frequently need to shuttle children around. If necessary, ADSI will train the nanny in a sports utility

 if that is the primary vehicle being used.
    The executive driving course lasts one day and starts at $1850. The student/instructor ratio is 1:1. Students learn more evasive driving maneuvers than students who take the consumer classes do. The executive course also focuses on security awareness.

    ADSI has been in business for three years, but its philosophy has been passed down from decades of experience, according to Ricci. "We believe that a class is only as good as the instructor, so we chose some of the best and most experienced instructors in the industry. Our staff has many years training professionals in the top 80 percent of the fortune 100 companies.

    "Each curriculum and exercise is mathematically proven and subject to the laws of physics, developed in part through automotive engineering and automobile racing.

    Adults may feel like they have driven for years without a blemish on their driving records, but that doesn't mean they haven't caused accidents. "A lot of accidents happen carelessly," Ricci said, and not because of factors beyond a driver's control.

    As Ricci puts it in his class, "Many people tell me stories and usally what they say is, "I'm not taking this class because I need it." Or, T'm not buying this motorcycle because of the other idiots on the road.' It may be that this person is an idiot today because he or she happened to make a mistake. On the day, we make the mistake, we happen to be the idiot. We can all take blame on the roadway. Instead of placing blame, fix the problem. Put your car in a safer place."

    Students practice on an abandoned runway. It leaves a lot of room for driver error. "The last thing parents should do is train their kids in real-life situations," he said. "It's better on an airstrip with traffic cones."
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