About Us

Thanks for visiting!  We're looking forward to bringing you lots of informative content about the difference between (a) what many people consider "driving" and (b) what we consider "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, 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  To Obtain Your License tab.)

So our daughter was out on her first official driving lesson, and when she arrived home after only three lessons (we had no idea at the time that there are supposed to be seven), 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 them at AshburnTutors.com!)

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 the 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 ten 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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And speaking of joining us, we'd be most grateful if you would consider:

(a) thanking Mr. T. in a tangible way, (b) donating to our Scholarship Fund, and/or (c) helping us to further our purpose by

-- telling your family and friends about us and our mission

and/or 

-- clicking the link below.

This will allow us to continue providing our services, educating our community, and spending our time in a  dedicated pursuit of Driving to Save Lives.

And now it's time to get back on the road . . . .