About Us

Thanks for visiting!  We're looking forward to bringing you lots of informative content about the difference between what (a) many think of as operating a vehicle and driving a car and (b) what is or should be thought of as actual road navigation.

And we'll start by sharing our story: Ashburn Driving School is the result of many years of prayer and hopes of starting a family-owned business.  

And one day one of our daughters was ready to take her behind-the-wheel driving course.  She did the research on local driving schools, and she came back with a couple of options.  

We made a quick phone call, and next thing we knew, we were sending her off . . . with a perfect stranger who had just pulled up in front of our home.  Well, we thought, we're required to do this by the DMV . . . aren't we?  

We also had asked the instructor how many hours our daughter would need to drive, and her answer: I'll know after I've driven with her a bit, was not correct, but we didn't know it at the time, mainly because no one had ever made a point of telling us exactly what the instructor was supposed to provide, by law.  (To find out what would have been the legally correct answer, see the My License Checklist section of our website.)

So our daughter was out on her first official driving lesson, and when she arrived home after only three lessons (there are legally supposed to be seven lessons), with her license in her hand, we asked her, "So tell us what you've learned." Her answer would change our lives: "We didn't learn anything; we just drove around and did errands for the instructor." 

It didn't take long before we knew that we were called to make this a mission: vehicle road navigation--especially for new drivers--was just too important an endeavor to let that go. We also knew this would be an important way to provide a necessary service to our community while working together in a family-based business.

Lyle also had maintained an impeccable driving record throughout his life, right through our thirty three years of marriage and up to the present, and he has a natural gift for careful, conscientious road navigation.

So we researched all that was involved in becoming a certified driving instructor in Virginia as well as the process of starting our own business.  Enter: our dearest of friends, Dave and Mary Beth Burke, who literally walked us through the process step by step and had us on our way.  (Do you know the Burkes?  If not, be sure to visit with them at AshburnTutors.com, their awesome tutoring company!)

Fast forward to a year later, Lyle had accomplished all of the necessary courses and requirements, and he was now a certified DMV driving instructor.  We were thrilled!  Our business license was in hand, his instructor's license was activated, and he was ready to start changing the world and making it a safer place . . . one driver at a time.

And one of the first items on his list was to set about addressing the problem that we now saw first hand, and not only from our own daughter's experience: that a very  large number of driving companies were running rough-shod over the DMV regulations and failing to provide even the most basic requirements. 

Knowing what teen statistics are for driving accidents, we wondered how anyone could give a driving student a license without having first provided a thorough, professional grounding in defensive and offensive driving skills and actual road navigation, not only according to DMV requirements, which are in fact minimal, but far beyond. 

And it was then that the Ashburn Driving School mission of Driving to Save Lives was born.  At that moment, we went from starting a business . . . to beginning a journey.  We went from performing a service . . . to performing an honored civic duty.  We went from teaching students how to drive . . . to teaching them how to save their own and others' lives.  

And we're proud and grateful to say that with the grace of God, we've continued doing exactly that for almost nine years now.

So we thank you for joining us in this, our mission of Driving to Save Lives and making our world a safer place . . . one driver at a time.

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Would you like to help further our mission? 

If so, we'd be most grateful, because Mr. T. can only do so much himself.

So whether you'd like to thank him for the instruction he's provided to you, to your son or daughter, your friend, spouse, or family member, or whether you would simply like to help us to further our purpose, we would appreciate it if you would do one of two things: 

either donate directly to our mission (see below), or share our website with your friends and family.

This will allow us to continue providing our services directly to our students, educating our community virtually through media such as our website, our blog, and our YouTube channel, and otherwise devoting our time and energy to a  dedicated pursuit of Driving to Save Lives.

And now it's time to get back behind the wheel; we'll look for you on the road!