Courses

My Business Philosophy is the Golden Rule

Welcome to

JODA COLLINS

DRIVING ACADEMY LLC

Behind-the-Wheel Training

Serving Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa Counties since 2008!

850 981-3355

Goal: Good control of steering, brakes and accelerator in non-traffic conditions at speeds of up to 25mph. (General Safety Score of no less than 90 points.) Since poor steering is the number one cause of crashes in driver's training vehicles, an emphasis is placed on proper hand-over-hand steering and allowing the wheel to slide through a driver's hands to complete standard right and left turns.

Course Duration: The average for all drivers of all ages, all motivation levels, all educational levels and all levels of ability is one to three lessons or the training ends when the driver feels he or she knows as much about the rules of the road, etc. as he or she desires. Most drivers complete this training in one or two 75-minute driving session.

COURSE #3

SPECIALTY COURSE

Goal

Client gives me one (or two, at the most) driving skill to concentrate on during a lesson and I do so, and ignore all other distractions (driving needs/flaws) while doing my best to keep driver out of any driving environment where is or her driving flaws would put us in undue danger.

Course Duration: Until Client stops the training.

COURSE #4
LEARN BY MEMORIZING

THE ROUTE COURSE
This Course is designed for drivers that do not have the cognitive ability to know how the rules of the road apply to them in traffic and do not have the cognitive ability to drive with reasonable safety in traffic patterns they are not familiar with and/or have not memorized. Driving familiar driving routes over and over in to learn how to drive detracts from a drivers ability to drive safely in all driving environments, including well-known and/or memorized driving routes. This Course is designed for drivers who desperately need to get from Point A to Point B on a regular basis, such as to and from work, to and from the grocery store, or to and from the doctor's office, etc., but would be too dangerous a driver to take a detour along the way. In this instance, drivers are directed to find a safe place to park as soon as possible, and call someone for assistance.

The Osmosis Course.

(Just Drive Around)

Goal: Just drive around with the hope of learning by driving without instruction. We call this the Osmosis Course.

Some people want to try to improve as a driver by just driving around until safe driving skills come to or dawn on the driver. We no longer try to convince people that there is no such thing. So, we have created a Course for them. There is a 25% surcharge for this lesson on some fees due to the increased danger of crashing and the added stress on me to train a driver by trial and error only. There is also, an "Awareness Notice" that must be signed denoting the client's and the driver have been advised of the increased possibility of tickets.

Course Duration: There are too many variables to provide this estimate.

Graduation Requirements: None
The date is June 13, 2015. It is 2:30pm. After eight years in this business and after training almost 1,100 people, it dawned on me today that I have failed to offer an often asked for Course. There are a lot of people who think learning to drive safely is the result of time behind-the-wheel only. That, somehow, if they spend enough hours behind-the-wheel that they become safe drivers.

These folks do not want my training or to hear my instructions. One teenager expressed this Course succinctly. She told me to "Shut up and let me drive!" All she wanted is to drive around and have me deliver her from crashing to the best of my ability if it was needed to do so. I have lost a lot of business over the years by turning these drivers away. I will not do that any more.

This Course is for drivers who only want to drive around and teach themselves. It costs one-third more because the driver is always dangerous behind-the-wheel and will not progress much or fast. The safety level will remain much the same (no significant improvement), so I charge more to be in excessive danger all of the time. In addition, due the high probability of crashing, student-drivers must use their own insured or the Client's insured vehicle for all of this training and sign a waiver of all liability thus assuming all liability for the training.

Here is how it works. The student-driver drives around aimlessly (no pattern) until driver does not want to drive around any more. No instruction is provided.

Charge: The charge is one-third more due to the excessive and maintained danger level. There are no discounts for this Course since the danger level starts and stays high.

I reserve the right to decline service if the danger level is too frightening.

Dear Friends,
I am a man of my word. I read what I sign before I sign it. I assume responsibility for my actions.

These are real emails sent to clients. I provide them so future clients and drivers do not have to receive any email like these and, hopefully, I will not have to write any more like these.

I have enjoyed a positive working relationship with 99% of those I have served.

I have had a strained working relationship with about 1% of those I have served and worked with. One-hundred percent of those that I have had a strained working relationship with had three things in common.

1. They did not read the working agreement well.
2. They did not keep their word.
3. They did not assume responsibility for their actions.

If you are not willing to read the Working Agreement carefully, are not willing to keep your word and/or are not a person that assumes responsibility for your actions, please do not employ me. It won't end well because I will hold you responsible for your word, that is, for what you sign.

If you will read the Working Agreement carefully, keep your word and assume responsibility for your actions --WELCOME, WELCOME. I look forward to working for you and with you.

Just for fun, when reading the emails below, try to identify which of the three failures in each case caused the difficulties.

REAL EMAIL #1
Mr. Collins,
My son will have to cancel his training for now because he does not have the time to do the mandatory reading from the driving Workbook that your contract requires.

My Response: My Contract does not require mandatory reading other than the one-page article for students age 25 and under. It takes about five minutes to read, and the driver can read it during paid driving time if he or she wants to.

REAL EMAIL #2 - My Response Only:
Dear Mr. Smith (not real name),
You brought up several negative concerns you have about what I am doing and what I expected of you. Every point you brought up is clearly clarified in the one-page Summary Agreement you signed. Your criticisms tell me that you did not read that page. Please read your copy. Let me know, after reading your copy, if you have any lingering concerns. If you want to change something in that Agreement, just ask. I am easy to work with. I just need to know what you want me to consider changing. The only thing I will not consider changing are my charges.

Update: I never received a response from the above party.

REAL EMAIL #3 - My Response Only:
Dear Mrs. Jones (not real name),
I, too, am concerned about your Son's extremely low progress in driver's training.
You are highly motivated for him to learn to drive, but he is not even slightly motivated to learn to drive. He is taking lessons because you are paying for them and forcing him take driver's training. He made it clear to me, in your presence, before you and he signed the Contract and before you paid me any money that he did not want to take driver's training and that he would not work at it. I made it plain to you at that time that I felt paying for driver's training would be a waste of money.
He tells me that he has an abundance of family and friends who drive him anywhere he wants to go anytime he wants to go for FREE. He tells me that once he gets his license, he is going to have to pay for his own car, gas, car payments and insurance and those things will necessitate him getting a job. He does not want a job. He does NOT want to get his license. Therefore, he does not want to learn to drive. If I had people to drive me any where I wanted to go, anytime I wanted to go at their expense, I (also) would not be motivated to learn to drive, get a license and assume the expense of car payments, insurance and fuel. Who would?

It is very hard to teach a person who wants to fail at learning. That is true for everyone. You might want to reconsider enrolling him in training at this time. If and when he loses his free and convenient rides, he will be interested in learning to drive. Permit me to once again state that I think you are wasting your money to pay for him to be in driver's training. He is not learning because refuses to do so, just as he told you he would.

REAL EMAIL #4
Mr. Collins,
Do I have to do everything listed in order to have the full money back Guarantee for the five lessons? It seems like a lot to do.

Dear Mrs. Confused About the Guarantee:

I do not offer a money back guarantee on lessons already started or completed. Tell me, please, where you got that idea.

Footnote: The Client wrote back stating, "I just assumed I could get a full refund for all completed training if I did not like the way my son drove when the five lessons were over."

I wrote back: Where is the list of things you mentioned? Evaluate your son's progress after each lesson to determine if you consider his per lesson progress worth the investment.

Update: I received no response.

REAL EMAIL #5
Mr. Collins,
Why did you send the Evaluations/Progress Reports to my mother? I am your adult student and I am the one you should be sending the reports to.
Why did I have to pay $630 just to learn to pass the State Driving Exam?
I never liked or agreed with your Contract.

Dear Ms. Disgruntled:
I got your mother's email address from you. Your signed Contract denotes your request for me to send all emails to you and your mother.
If you only wanted to learn enough to pass the State exam you should have enrolled in the Pass the State Driving Exam ONLY Course, not the Defensive Driving Course.
Above your signature on the Contract, it reads, "I accept my benefits and responsibilities as outlined in this document." Why did you sign it?

REAL EMAIL #6
Dear Mr. Collins,
My Son came away from the lesson believing he drove well until his evaluation was received with a long list of things yet to learn.

My Response:

I complimented him on his progress during his first lesson. I regret that he considered me noting his good progress during his first lesson as a statement that he has little or nothing left to learn about defensive driving.

REAL EMAIL #7

Do you provide instruction to student-drivers in real-time (during the lesson) or is the method of providing an email evaluation after the lesson the only method or training we should expect in the future?

My Response:

Your son received a full 75-minute lesson of verbal instructions and behind-the-wheel practice regarding a wide variety of safe driving skills as well as learning rules of the road. The email evaluation is a progress report on his learning and contains zero instructions. I am not sure what you are talking about. Please clarify.

Update: I received no response.

REAL EMAIL #8 - My Response Only.
Dear Mrs. Davis (not correct name),
At the end of the previous lesson I asked your son if he wanted to memorize the steps for entering a parking space on his own time for free before the start of the next lesson or learn them at the per minute charge during the next lesson. He said, and I quote: "I want to memorize the steps for entering a parking space on my own time, so my mom does not have to pay for the time it takes me to do that during a training lesson."

At the start of today's lesson I said, "Did you get a chance to memorize the steps for entering a parking space." He said he did not. I asked him if he wanted to use some of the training time today to memorize the steps or memorize them on his own time for free in preparation for the next lesson. Again, he asked not to use paid driving time for learning the steps for parking.

If he was upset at me for asking that, he did not show it. If he expressed to you that question upset him, my only response is,
why was he upset with me for asking that? My Contract states a Client/Driver has the option of memorizing the steps during paid driving time or on his/her own time for free. I do not understand how asking the driver of his decision can be considered out of line for me or traumatizing for him.

Update: I received no response.

REAL EMAIL #9
Ms. Carmela
Why did you have me write, "No refund for completed lessons," on my check? What is that about? What if I am not happy with the training and want all of my money back?

Dear Ms. Refund (not real name),
At the start of your first lesson, you asked me about my refund policy. I read it to you word-for-word from the one-page Contract you signed. That statement included, "There are no refunds for completed lessons." I got the impression you were not listening well and/or did not understand, so I took a couple of minutes and restated it in expanded form with specific emphasis on the sentence, "There are no refunds for completed lessons." Still, it seemed to me that you were not listening and/or did not understand. I asked if you had any questions? You did not respond. So, I asked you to write on your check, "No refund for completed lessons." You did so. You signed a Contact that stated, "No refunds for completed lessons." I explained that sentence in great detail to you twice before the lesson started. I asked you to write that statement on your check. You did. Now, you state you want me to guarantee you a full refund of all lessons upon such a mandate. There are no refunds for completed service. If you do not accept that fact, then it would be best not to continue training.

Update: I received no response.

REAL EMAIL #10
Why did you accuse my son of being and angry person?
My Response:
I did not accuse your son of anything.

When traffic was slow in front of him, he got mad at the drivers ahead of him and began to curse them. I will not repeat here the foul language he used. When traffic lights turned red and he was required to stop, he got angry at the traffic light.

When I mandated that your son drive within the speed limit, he became angry and told me that he would continue to exceed the speed limit because, "people tailgate him and force him to drive above the speed limit." When I required your son not to enter turns fast and brake abruptly in turns, he got mad at me and demanded I allow him to drive fast into turns and brake hard halfway through because "intersections are dangerous".

It appears to me he is confused about who the student is and who the instructor is.

I did not accuse your son of anything. I do not know if he is an angry person by nature. I did not say he was an angry person. However, he was angry about something almost all of the time during training. I told him it was not wise drive angry. There is a difference.

REAL EMAIL #11

Mr. Collins,

My wife is just about finished with her four lessons. When do I get my 50% rebate?

Mr. Doe,

My maximum rebate is $10 per lesson. Show me a 50% Rebate statement on my website or in your Contract and I will honor it.

Update: No response to date.

PostScript:

Dear Friend,

Do you see why we do not have nor honor any verbal agreements, ever!? Do you see why I require a Contract that is signed in my presence (unless other arrangements are made). In addition, some people struggle greatly with understanding words even when they are written clearly. Some people are just manipulators. In any case, imagine if you were held hostage by anything that followed, "But you said...." or "But I thought those words on paper meant something else..."

If I allowed people to hold me hostage to everything they misunderstood/assumed, refused to understand, and/or con artists that lie for self-gain, I would be out of business in six months.

Variable Skills Course/Training

In the Variable Skills Course you tell us what skill level you desire and we tell you, after the first lesson, how many more lessons it will take to reach that driving skill level. Just fill in the blanks below:

1. At what driving speed do you want the driver reasonably safe? Note any speed between 15mph and 70mph. _____

2. In what speed zones do you want the driver reasonably safe?

Note one: 15mph zones only.

Up to 30mph zones (residential) only.

Up to 35mph zones (city) only.

Up to 45mph zones only.

Up to 55mph zones only or

In all speed zones including Interstate .

3. Among what drivers do you want the driver reasonably safe?

List one: Excellent Drivers Only.

Good and Excellent Drivers Only.

All Drivers including Crash Prone Drivers.

4. In what weather conditions do you want the driver reasonable safe?

List one: Good Weather Only.

Good Weather and Mildly Adverse Weather (some wind/rain).

All weather including adverse weather (lots of wind and rain).

5. In what traffic conditions do you want the driver reasonably safe? List one: Mild Traffic Only.

Mild and Moderate Traffic Only.

All traffic conditions including congested traffic conditions.

6. In what driving environments do you want driver reasonably safe? List one: Memorized areas only.

Memorized and well-known areas only.

All areas including driving areas that are completely new to the driver.

7. At what times do you want the driver reasonably safe?

List one: Daylight hours only

At all times, including daylight and dark.

Charge: Check your Contract for specific services and related fees.

Duration: There are too many variables to provide this estimate.

Prerequisite Course: None

COURSE #2
Basic Vehicle Control Course

I (Joda Collins) strongly suggest taking the time to read all available Courses on this Menu BEFORE selecting one. After you do that, you will discover the reasons why. If you have questions about this Menu, just ask. The best action is to enroll Student-driver in Course 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, then 5. The best (most skilled) is also the most time consuming, therefore the most expensive. It always is no matter what the subject of study is.

LIST OF AVAILABLE COURSES PLEASE SELECT ONLY ONE (at a time).

COURSE #1
Rules of the Road Course

REAL EMAILS

Goal: Pass the State Driving Exam ONLY and delete from training all safe-driving skills that are not required to pass the State driving exam. The State diving exam is different at every driver license office and often changes due to current fears surrounding Covid19 and its variants. Tell me what driver license office you are using for your exam and I will tell you the current requirements of that driver license office.

Course Duration: After the first lesson I can usually give you a reasonably accurate estimate of how many more lessons, if any, you will need to pass the State driver license exam at your selected driver license office. The average for all drivers of all ages, all motivation levels, all educational levels and all levels of ability is one to three lessons or the training ends when the driver feels he or she knows as much about the rules of the road, etc. as he or she desires. This estimate assumes driver can already pass the Basic Vehicle Control Course.

Charge: Check your Contract for specific services and related fees.

COURSE #6
GENERAL SAFETY COURSE
Level One, Two and Three
Teaches 12 General Safety Skills that permit the driver to be reasonably safe among other reasonably safe drivers. A reasonably safe driver is one that keeps the rules of the road.

Course Duration: After the first lesson I can usually give you a reasonably accurate estimate of how many more lessons, if any, you will need to pass the State driver license exam at your selected driver license office. The average for all drivers of all ages, all motivation levels, all educational levels and all levels of ability is three to five lessons for Level One, four to six lessons for Level Two, seven to eight lessons for Level Three or the training ends when the driver feels he or she knows as much about the rules of the road, etc. as he or she desires. This estimate assumes driver can already pass the Basic Vehicle Control Course and the Rules of the Road Course.

Charge: Check your Contract for specific services and related fees.

Prerequisite Course: Course #2, Basic Vehicle Control Course.

COURSE 7
DEFENSIVE DRIVING COURSE

Level One, Level Two and Level Three
Teaches 23 Defensive Driving Techniques which permits the driver to be reasonably safe among all drivers including those who are crash prone drivers. A crash prone driver is defined as a driver who does not keep nor honor the rules of the road.

Charge: Check your Contract for specific services and related fees.

Prerequisite Course: Course #2, Basic Vehicle Control Course and Course #4, General Safety Course.

This is one-to-one training. You tell me what you want to learn, and I will do my best to teach you.

I do offer the following suggestions:

1. Pass the State Driving Exam ONLY.

2. Drive well enough to not be the cause of crashes. 12 General Safety Skills.

3. Drive well enough to not become involved in the crashes that bad drivers cause. This is an additional 23 Driving Techniques added to the 12 General Safety Skills.

Goal: Driver opts to learn the rules of the road, the meaning of pavement markings, and signs and signals by Mr. Collins driving around and having Mr. Collins point out these things and explain them during paid driving time. If the student-driver has done his or her best to understand the basic rules of the road, meaning of pavement markings, and signs and signals before entering is Course less time and money will be invested in this over-the-road training.

FREE: Written materials that explain the rules of the road, etc are provided FREE upon request.

TIME ONLY COURSE
Some insurance companies require only X number of minutes or hours of behind-the-wheel instruction to qualify for their insurance discount. You find out from your insurance company what they require and we create a time only course to comply. Our minimum time only course is 15-minutes of behind the wheel training. You must tell us what you want taught. If the time runs out before we complete the teaching of the skill or skills you want taught, we will stop the training at the time limit your insurance company specified. If you do not or do not want to provide the training you want taught, we will teach safe lane changes. In most cases we can teach safe lane changes in 15- minutes. Most students can learn the lane-change procedure in 15 to 30-minutes.

Charge: Check your Contract for specific services and related fees.

Prerequisite Course: None

In all the Courses above, unless otherwise directed, Mr. Collins trains the driver in the skills in the order that he (Joda Collins) selects. If one of the above Course is not selected by the Client then Mr. Collins DOES not select the skill or skills for each lesson. That decision is the responsibility of the Client alone. There are good reasons for this which he will share upon request.

CLIENT'S CHOICE COURSE
In this Course the Client tells Mr. Collins before the start of each lesson what driving skills the Client wants the Student-driver to receive training for/in. Mr. Collins may make suggestions or recommendations but he will not impose his suggestions on the Client or Student-driver unless the request poses unusually danger to the Student-driver. For example, if a Student-driver is not able to keep the vehicle in his lane at speeds in excess of 25mph and the Client asks Mr. Collins to teach the Student-driver to drive on the Interstate, that request will be denied because attempting that is too dangerous.

Charge: Check your Contract for specific services and related fees.

Duration: There are too may variables to give this estimate.

Prerequisite Course: None

STUDENT-DRIVERS CHOICE

When there is not an agreement between the Client (financially responsible adult) and the Student-driver about what Course of training to take, in most cases, Student-drivers never graduate a Course of Study that is more difficult than the Student-driver is motivated to graduate; rather, such student-drivers give about 20% to 25% of their energy and effort to task. This increases the time it takes for the driver to graduate the Course by four of five times the time and four or five times the financial investment. In the instances, where the Client does not want to invest four or five times the money, it is allow the Student-driver to select the Course of Study. The Student-driver selects any Course of Study and informs the Client, and the Client informs Mr. Collins and/or the Joda Collins Driving Academy of the Student-drivers Course of Study and the Client adopts that Course of Study as the Client's choice. Why? Because it is really hard to teach a Student-driver things the Student-driver does not want to learn. Hint: More than 70% of teenage student drivers with a permit only want to learn to drive well-enough to pass their State Driving Exam but will say they want to be a safe-driver and/or a defensive driver because they are embarassed to admit they are not really interested in becoming a safe or defensive driver but only interested in getting their driver license.

Duration: There are too may variables to give this estimate.

NEEDS ONLY COURSE

Mr. Collins make a list of the (1) poor driving habits the driver has that need to be changed and the good driving skills that need to replace his or her poor driving habits, (2) the traffic laws the driver is violating on a regular basis, (3) the driving skills and techniques the driver needs to develop in order to become a safe and/or defensive driver. Little to no training is provided. That list is given to the Client for the Client for someone else to do the in-car/behind the wheel training. The amount of driving time varies however, usually two or three lessons are all that is needed.

Charge: Check your Contract for specific services and related fees.

Prerequisite Course: None

Duration: There are too may variables to give this estimate.

EMERGENCY SKILLS

Emergency Procedures taught if requested. While emergency skills are not part of any driving Course, any Client can add them to a drivers list of skills to be taught or select this Course only to for the Student-driver. The reason why I (Joda Collins) do not teach these skills without permission is it takes quite a bit of time to teach all of these skills. More than one Client expressed concern over the expense (time it took) to teach all of these skills, so I removed them from any other course and teach them only if requested.
A. Driving off road by mistake or plan.
B. Tire blow-out
C. Skid recovery
D. Emergency braking in car with and/or without anti-lock brakes.
E. How to handle warning lights on dash board.
F. How to deal with brake failure.
G. How to deal with sudden loss of headlights.

Charge: Check your Contract for specific services and related fees.

Duration: There are too may variables to give this estimate.

Prerequisite Course: None

COMFORT CLASS

com·fort·a·ble
     /ˈkəmfərdəb(ə)l/
     adjective
          1.a feeling of physical ease and relaxation.

We do not offer a Comfort Class. This is too subjective a goal to measure because comfort is a physical feeling and we do not have a physical feeling class. Often the drivers that feel the most comfortable are drivers are those that are oblivious to the dangers of driving. Sometimes, no matter how skilled we make a driver, said driver is never comfortable while driving for one or more reasons that has noting to do with us. Learning safe driving skills will make a driver safer but often make a driver less comfortable behind the wheel, as applying driving skills on a constant basis in ever-changing traffic conditions is not conducive to comfort although it is conducive to safety. Some drivers find comfort in becoming a safe-driver in every changing traffic conditions, while other drivers find attempting to apply safe-driving skills in every changing traffic conditions a bit nerve-racking and less than comfortable.

Words can be tricky. We really do not have a driving course designed to make a driver comfortable. What most people mean by "comfortable" is "confident". Driving skill makes a driver more confident, is not guaranteed to provide a condition of physical ease and relaxation.

The only reason we mention this is because we have had several students who enrolled thinking they would find comfort in drivers training who became better-skilled (safer drivers) but after learning the things needed to drive crash free among safe drivers came to the awareness of how dangerous driving can be and how one mistake can cost much or everything; that knowledge made them uncomfortable, thus deemed the driver's training a failure. Also, I have had drivers that were very comfortable behind-the-wheel, but quit training long before they were safe. Said drivers and some of their parents blamed me for their poor driving on the basis said persons became comfortable before they became good drivers.

It is important to make the distinction between a comfortable driver and a skilled-confident driver.

Again, most people mean "confident-skilled" not "comfortable". If that is what you and your son are seeking, then the General Safety Course is the right choice as it focuses on driving skill with the hopes that a confident driver will find comfort in knowing he or she is a safer driver. Unless otherwise informed we will assume the goal is a skilled/safe driver with the hopes that becoming a skilled-safe driver will provide to the driver a sense of ease and comfort.

Charge: Check your Contract for specific services and related fees.

Duration: There are too may variables to give this estimate.

THE END

COURSE #5
Pass the Florida State Driving Exam
(only) Training

COURSES