About the People
Driver Ed in a Box, LLC was started by Patrick L. Barrett, a nationally known expert in training for collision-free driving.
Pat’s credential’s include:
- Active in the driver education driver training field since 1974.
- Certified and Licensed Teacher/Instructor in several states.
- Certified as a Supervising Teacher.
- Certified as an Instructor Trainer.
- Former owner of the largest driving school in Texas. Sold driving school in 1989 to concentrate on fleet consulting work with clients in over 40 states.
- Author of the newest book on Driver Education. Warning: Driver Education Can Kill Your Teenager from Advantage Press, available June 2013
Guest on several talk shows as an expert on driver safety and driver training.
- President of North American Professional Driver Education Association (NAPDEA) for eight years.
- Conducted workshops across the country for driver training business owners.
- Helped develop and conducted classroom and in-vehicle drive training workshops for driver training instructors and their trainers.
- Cofounder and President of Driving School Association of Texas (DSAT) for two years.
Pat is also the author of several books, pamphlets, and articles on training for collision-free driving, including:
- How to tell… Will Your Teenager Crash the Car? …39 Sure-Fire Tests to Check Out Your Teenager’s Driving Skills, a handbook for parents of new drivers. (a revision of the booklet he co-authored with Warren Rumsfield in 1983 for the North American Professional Driver Education Association)
- Driver Ed in a Box® – The Textbook, a textbook written specifically for parent taught/assisted driver education.
- Driver Ed in a Box®, a training system for parents who are training or assisting in the training of their new teenage drivers. This is the only private Texas based program which the Texas Department of Public Safety, Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, & New Mexico Transportation Department have approved.
- DrivText, a workbook for fleet drivers.
- Development and implementation of fleet driver safety programs and materials which have produced a reduction in collision-rates of over 50%.
- Magazine & news articles on driver safety & driver training that have appeared in various publications throughout the United States.
Pat co-authored these North American Professional Driver Education Association publications:
- Safe Driving Habits, a student text used throughout the United States.
- Building Safe Driving Habits, a guide for training driving instructors.
Frances Hammond has been working with Pat in the driver safety and driver training field since 1975. Frances has served in every office capacity as the company grew. She managed customer service, served as office manager, and managed inventory. A published author herself, Frances now edits, designs and coordinates materials for the company. She has been instrumental in the development of not only the printed matter, but also was an integral part of developing the scripts for the audio and video productions. Frances handles much of the research on state laws and new developments in driver safety and driver training, and making materials customer friendly.
John Barrett works closely with his father to make Driver Ed in a Box, LLC, a success. He grew up, literally, in the business of driver education and driver safety. John has a keen interest in computer technology, and is always studying advances in that field. He is the Information Technology Manager at Driver Ed in a Box, LLC, and supervises our technical support.
History of the Company
In 1997, parents had just been given the option of teaching their own teen’s driver education in Texas. Pat’s son, Michael, was eligible to begin his driver education, so Pat ordered the material from the state. After spending several hours reading what the state of Texas had produced for parent driver education, Pat told Frances, “It’s a good thing I already know what I’m supposed to do, because nobody is going to figure it out from this.”
As soon as the process of teaching Michael was under way, acquaintances began to ask for help with teaching their teenagers. Pat provided advice and loaned videos and diagrams, etc.
Pat believed there were parents who wanted more than just to get a driver’s license–they want their teens to become safe drivers.
If all a family wanted for their teen was a driver’s license, all they had to do was fill out the DPS forms and say they did the work. If a family wanted to produce a safer driver, they needed three things:
- Knowledge of what collision-free drivers do to stay collision-free.
- Simple, clear, easy-to-follow, integrated format.
- Tools to convey this knowledge to a beginner.
There was nothing available adequate to the task. That’s why we created the Driver Ed in a Box® kit.
First, Pat produced an audio series that guides parents step by step through the process of safely training a new driver in the habits of collision-free driving. Next, Pat produced a set of videos that actually show the process of parent/teen working together toward the goal of collision-free driving. At about that same time Pat and Frances also completed a textbook, Driver Ed in a Box® – the Textbook written for parent taught or guided driver education, which concentrates on the actual process of developing collision-free driving habits. This replaced the traditional driver education textbook previously offered as part of the kit.
Now all the parts were integrated, each piece connected to the other.
This is the first and only program that teaches parents how to train a beginner in the proven techniques of collision-free driving. These techniques were developed through years of working with training driving instructors, experienced fleet drivers and beginner driver education students. The program packages the tools necessary to provide the training in a practical, no-nonsense, doable format. It’s what works.
Because we listen to our customers, we have revamped our Driver Ed in a Box® kits several times, so families can have the best course possible.