17 Mile Driving School

17 Mile Driving School is the bomb!!! When my daughter got her permit we started working with Kristin. They allowed me to ride along in the back seat on thier first lesson. I wanted to observe the process and see how to effectively teach my daughter to be safe on the road. I was AMAZED … ok maybe even SHOCKED … by the calm caring way in which Kristin directed my daughter.
She spoke to her in a low calm voice giving her the next direction way in advance. She gave my daughter just enough information with each lesson and then allowed a few weeks in between for her to practice the new skills. Kristin would always start by reinforcing the positive and then help her progress to the next level. My daughter felt completely comfortable with Kristin and wished they could have spent more time together!!! This amazing teacher even spent time explaining to me what teenagers are feeling during this process and then spoke to my daughter about what parents go through. Her advice helped us both better understand how to survive this process while maintaining our relationship. My daughter got her license today and she said «Mom I owe this all to Kristin»

My daughter recently did her driver training with 17 Mile Driving School’s Kristen Kellermyer, and I can’t say enough good things about the experience, but I’ll try to sum up the highlights. First (and super important to both me and my daughter) is Kristen’s extremely calm, kind, informative demeanor. She has a rock solid energy about her, friendly but unflappable, and she places a huge emphasis on making sure kids are well informed and aware before they even turn the key in the ignition for their first lesson. My daughter heard stories of kids getting yelled at by instructors from other driving schools, having grumpy or uncommunicative instructors, or being told to do something wrong as a way of testing to see if they really know the rules. One of her classmates who went to a different driving school said he had a different instructor every time he had a lesson. These are things nobody would experience with Kristen.
(2) I really like the fact that instead of doing three 2-​hour sessions as many driving schools do, she stretches out the kids’ education with the same number of hours, but more sessions. I don’t think it’s ideal for a young driver to spend two full hours behind the wheel on their very first day of driving school — it takes a lot of concentration, and they could get tired out by it or lose focus. Each of Kristen’s sessions are designed to focus on certain types of driving situations and to provide the ideal amount of practice time for students in between the lessons. She starts with a one-​hour lesson focused on fundamentals, then gives the kids a week or two to practice. Her second session focuses on rural driving and handling emergencies, followed by 3 – 4 weeks of practice. Then she does a lesson focused on stuff that comes up in city driving, including parallel parking and other challenges. After 3 – 4 more weeks of practice, the students get a 2-​hour freeway driving lesson (including the infamous Fishhook in Santa Cruz). The final lesson is a mock driving test, and it also takes them through unusual intersections and a final review of their instruments. This is to prepare them for their behind-​the-​wheel DMV exam. After that lesson my daughter felt super prepared and confident going into the driving test. Also, Kristen made sure we were well informed about everything we would need and what it would be like the day of the test for both my daughter and me — right down to where I would park and where I would wait for her while she took the test and what odd things might occur (like people trying to get in front of us in line for her test.)
(3) Kristen takes a thorough, committed approach to the young drivers’ education. She even videotapes the driving sessions so if there was a tricky part of the drive, she can review the tape with the student or parent afterward so they remember what they need to do differently the next time.
(4) Kristen is a certified high school teacher, who started her own business in driver’s ed years ago when schools were getting out of the business of offering it to their students. So she’s been well trained to work with this age group — she’s a young-​at-​heart surfer, whose company they can enjoy — very professional, but easy to relate to at the same time.
Thanks to Kristen, I’m enjoying a delightful amount of newly freed time now that my daughter is able to drive herself where she needs to go, and I feel perfectly safe with her doing so. My daughter is a solid, responsible driver, and I credit that in part to her own personality but also hugely to the personality and professionalism of her instructor, Kristen.