How We're Evolving

We're always looking for ways to improve our schools and our driving school program.

In 2005, we've changed a number of things which we are excited about:

• registrar: We have corralled a Saab club member to help us with driver sign-ups. This means that the driving school organizer can be relieved of these duties and concentrate on school planning and arranging instructors. This is a win-win for everyone!
• toll-free fax number: For those of you outside the Greater Toronto Area who prefer to fax in your school application, you can now do so without incurring charges.
• scan-and-email: We never really publicized it but we want to you know that you can scan your (completed) school application form and then email it to us. If you have a scanner or a multi-function device, let's put it to use. Remember, our bank requires applications paid by VISA to be signed. So this is a convenient alternative to faxing.
• two-page form: You notice that this year's school application form is two-part. Page 1 is an information page which includes our contact information. You keep this so you have record of the school requirements and the contact people. This allowed us to unclutter the second page, the application proper; it also means people submitting their application by mail, courier, or hand-delivery still have important information on file.

In 2004, we altered and introduced a few things:

• handbooks: We started providing manuals to our first-time participants. This was in response to our drivers occasionally requesting printed materials and wanting something to take home. It made a lot of sense for us to do this, on several levels. The most important reason though, is that there is SO MUCH that we cover and explore in one day that it is easily overwhelming to the first-timer. In the interest of education and your learning to be a better and safer driver, we want you to have something to refer back to and re-read.
• driver-instructor assignments: While we feel it is always good to get different feedback from different instructors, we also acknowledge that it can disrupt the learning process for the novice and intermediate driver if the instructor changes within a day.
• a new track: We visited the Mosport Driver Development Centre (DDC) track in 2004. It is a safe facility with an enormous skid pad. It offers features similar to Shannonville, which is our favorite track. Still, we want to be able to offer some variety in our program. Drivers learning different tracks become better faster. Also, the DDC means that people in the Greater Toronto Area and eastern Ontario don't have as far to travel.
• off-track exercises: In the past, we conducted exercises on the track. But this was challenging to us in terms of timing and resources. It also cut into our track time a bit. So we've altered the skid pad usage and formalized the exercises there.
• discounts: While we had to increase our school fees to cover rising insurance costs, we took the opportunity to implement discounts to favor our early-birds and keeners! We offer reduced fees when applicants sign up well in advance of a school. As well, when an applicant signs up for more than one school at a time, we further reduce fees. You could end up paying less than ever before.

Website

The original version of the driving school website has been created by Blake Nancarrow. He developed and supported the website during the years as the organizer of SOCCI schools. He contributed an enormous amount of work - most of the articles you see here are written by him. They are considered among the finest examples of advanced driving school material available, we had other schools asking us for a permission to copy. Thank you Blake!

The current website is built by Dmitry Platonoff from Blake's original content and some new material.

Contributors

Many other people have assisted in this web site, directly and indirectly. In no particular order...

• John Burnet kept a watchful eye, helped to review and improve the new edition of the site.
• Craig Tilford reviewed the site when first generated and tested the online forms.
• Lisa Tunney has caught and submitted spelling mistakes. She is a PDF tester.
• John Casey assisted in innumerable ways. He provided the SOCCI photograph album from which Blake sneakily scanned some photos. Recently, he began assisting with the PDF forms and making them better, clearer, stronger...
• Neil Palmer has caught and submitted spelling mistakes (particularly of desserts). He provided some of the images.
• Marie Nancarrow (Blake's mom!) occasional tests the PDF downloads on her iMac.
• Will Zaraska helped as a PDF tester.
• Diane Dale has spent hours and hours reading and reviewing and checking the site. Her feedback is greatly appreciated. Of late, she has contributed content aimed at the beginner or first-timer.
• Pierre Moatti assisted in forming links from the main club site and helping redeploy the EDS site forms.