The Cars

Tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks account for almost a third of the air pollution in the United States.

It all starts with the vehicles. By exclusively using hybrid gas-electric vehicles with near zero emissions, the thousands of miles driven by our student drivers are done cleanly and efficiently. Drivers Ed Direct currently offers training in the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape SUV. Every 2005 Prius and 2005 Hybrid Escape sold in the United States is mechanically equipped to meet California’s Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emission Vehicles (AT-PZEVs) standards. What does this mean? Our driving school vehicles are extremely clean to operate, producing 97 percent less hydrocarbon and oxides of nitrogen emissions than vehicles that meet today's nationwide top emissions standard.

The Course

There is a secondary effect that occurs when our students take their drivers education course online… parents don’t have to drive them to in-person classes. That means less traffic on the road and less emissions in the atmosphere. The typical drivers education classroom program lasts at least four days, which equals eight times a student has to be driven to and from a class. You may not think that amounts too much, but miles not driven reduces emissions.

Our driver ed online class is basically paperless too. No workbooks to hand out, no sign in sheets, no quiz or test questions to distribute. Everything is done online.

The Office

Drivers Ed Direct is dedicated to promoting a green office environment. From recycling paper, ink & toner cartridges and plastic products to using recycled paper stock for most of our promotional materials. Our philosophy of protecting the environment extends from the executive level down to our customer service representatives. Furthermore, we also encourage telecommuting for employees who are able to perform work duties from home. According the EPA, if 10% of American workers telecommuted just once per week, about 1.2 million gallons of fuel would be saved, stopping about 24 million pounds of pollution from soiling our atmosphere... per week.

Doing More By Wasting Less

With the nonstop pollution released by standard vehicles effecting our environment more than ever, the need for more ecologically aware vehicles is a genuine concern for today's driving community. This is particularly true when it comes to driving schools that have an entire fleet of training vehicles running constantly, 14 hours a day. When putting over 1000 miles on our roadways every day, finding an environmentally conscious training solution should be an ambition of every driving school. At Drivers Ed Direct, we've put these words into action by operating an entirely hybrid vehicle fleet, including Toyota Prius hybrids and Ford Escape hybrid SUVs. By only using hybrid driving school vehicles, we've been able to realize the several environmental benefits:

• Cutting Our Carbon Foot Print by Nearly 50%: Without doubt any driving school fleet is going to drive hundreds of thousands of miles annually. Simply using hybrid cars and hybrid SUV training vehicles can reduce our environmental influence by tens of thousand miles each year!
• Sitting Still = Saving Gas: Part of any driving school training curriculum involves sizeable portions of the lessons spent curbside parked talking about crucial driving concepts. While a hybrid Prius or Hybrid Escape idles, the gas motor shuts off by design. Thus no gas is being wasted!
• A Thinking Green Teen? What better way to move environmental friendliness into the forefront of today's young minds than by having their first driving experience be in a Hybrid vehicle? Teaching students in eco-conscious vehicles gives them a chance to have a "hybrid experience" they may not otherwise get to encounter. In fact, several students and parents have decided to purchase a Hybrid vehicle after taking driver training with us.

But don't take our word for it. Check out the Gas Mileage Impact Calculator fact sheet to see just how much more efficient our driving school fleet is versus the competition's inefficient conventional training vehicles.