Mother’s Near-Death Accident Steered Her to Teach Driver Safety

What kind of person becomes a driving instructor?

Of course you need endless patience, excellent knowledge of rules of the road, good communication skills, and nerves of steel.

But K. D. Straw, owner of DriveInstruct Driving Academy at 797 Washington St., in Stoughton (www.drivinstruct.com) , brings another quality to her profession: A personal commitment to make every student the most careful driver on the road. Students are enrolled from Stoughton, Canton, Sharon, Brockton, Avon, Easton and surrounding towns.

“My desire to teach driving began when I was 18. In 1989, my mother was struck by a car and we almost lost her. She was thrown 50 feet into the middle of a busy street in Boston, spent six months in a coma, and sustained irreversible brain damage. She had to learn to walk and talk again and has been in rehabilitation for the past 29 years. Initially, I began teaching everyone around me how to drive more safely. That’s when I realized how much I enjoyed teaching and that it was my calling. It became a personal thing. We offer Premium Services at affordable costs.”

The DriveInstruct staff has over 30 years of combined teaching experience and accepts students from any community. As a courtesy, they offer pickup and drop-off services to students in Stoughton, Avon, Easton, Sharon, Canton, Randolph, Brockton, Milton, mainly up to 10 minutes from the Driving Academy.

The National Safety Council estimates that about 40,00 people were killed in highway accidents in 2017. But Straw emphasizes that the fatal crash rate per mile driven for 16-19 year-olds is three times greater than the rate for drivers ages 20+. She says, “Auto accidents are the leading cause of death for ages 15 to 20. And, referring to the May accident that took the lives of four Stoughton teens, she says, “When teen drivers ride with other passengers, their risk of being in a fatal car crash doubles.” I grieve for these kids, for their families, their friends, and for the community that loved and knew them.”

DrivInstruct Driving Academy emphasizes the dangers of distracted driving – texting, phone calls, loud music, and talking and joking with fellow passengers. She says, “Too many die in traffic accidents, often as a result of poor or insufficient instruction. As a parent in the business of educating young drivers, I want them to be safe, confident, responsible and competent. Bottom line: we value our students and we value their lives.”

With the Graduated License Process, students are eligible to be licensed six months from the date their permits were issued. They need to have completed the following: 30 Hours of classroom instruction, 12 hours behind the wheel, and 6 hours of observation, plus 40 hours of supervised drive time with a parent/guardian.

Straw encourages anyone seeking driver’s ed courses, road test sponsorship, private lessons or refresher courses to contact her office now to take advantage of special summer pricing: info@drivinstruct.com / (781) 344-5000 / www.drivinstruct.com .

-By Stanley Hurwitz / stanhurwitz@gmail.com