Wayne Tully- Chief Executive Officer-
National Driver Training Institute was the brainchild of Founder and CEO Wayne Tully who, by the mid-1990s, had grown alarmed by the increasingly ugly statistics on teen driver fatalities.
Like most professionals in the industry, Wayne had long known that states could not afford to provide the kind of driver training in public schools that their own experts had advocated. And indeed, by this point, many states had pulled out of the drivers ed business altogether. But while ever more parents were now picking up the tab for the improved drivers ed programs offered by private companies, the expected downtick in teen crashes did not occur. Something new was going on, and Wayne Tully, with his extensive background in traffic safety and training, was the first to spot it and take action.
It wasn't just that state requirements weren't factoring in the increase in traffic and driver-distractions young drivers now face - although both are serious problems indeed. It was that states were not paying attention to the evolving psychological profile of the young drivers themselves. Our increasingly digitized lifestyle is training our young to be bold and adventurous on their first attempt at everything, confident that the petty little errors can be cleaned up later on: Spelling and grammar corrected, numbers recalculated, photos touched up and video clips reedited.
Exactness is now inconsequential to success. Rather, it is the willingness to bravely blunder forward that is the premier character trait determining a child's future. For almost two decades, parents and teachers alike have been hard at work nurturing this trait at the expense of others. Today's student driver really knows no other learning format, so we should not be surprised to find that they're basically programmed to "crash now, figure it out later".
"You simply cannot carry that attitude with you into the driver's seat," says Tully. "There's no backspace key on the dashboard". But he acknowledges students can't be expected to "relearn how to learn" at 15. The driver ed program must do it for them. It must slow them down, give them smaller goals spaced closer together, and provide plenty of time to practice what they're learning before giving them something new.
With this change in focus, National Driver Training Institute was born, as well as the nation's first Graduated Driver Licensing program: Help for the Teenager Who Wants to Drive .
The Tully approach caused huge reverberations across the country. Help for the Teenager Who Wants to Drive has been used as a guideline for developing teen driving laws by lawmakers in over 2 dozen states. Tully's knowledge, experience and insights made him popular, both as a sounding board and an expert witness, with state congresses considering GDL and parent-taught driver education programs. He has even gone on to co-author and otherwise lead the charge for changes in driver training laws in 28 states. This last year, Tully was one of only a handful of people selected from around the world to address the National Traffic Safety Board in Washington DC on the effectiveness of Parent Taught Driver Education.
Tully's followers contend that by keeping the requirements strict and the timeline for learning long, Wayne has single-handedly saved the lives of hundreds, maybe thousands, of teen drivers. Still, he is not without his critics. Compared to other programs, Tully's approach can seem unduly tough. But Tully is quick to retort, "Each item we cover is aimed at keeping the student from getting in a crash. Which of those items do you recommend removing?" Judging by the numbers generated by driver ed programs used in the past, the answer would be, "None of them."
Indeed, after decades of steadily worsening teen driver statistics, Tully's driver education programs and law-making efforts have begun reversing the trend. That's the kind of success no one wants to argue with!
Wayne Tully received his Traffic Safety Certification from The National Traffic Safety Institute and National Safety Council; and his Driver Education and Training Instructor and Teacher Instructor Certification from the University of New Mexico; the Department of Public Safety, of Texas; the Department of Education of Virginia; and the Department of Revenue, Driver License Division of Colorado. He is a State of Colorado Certified Driver License Tester and a published author. Over the years, Wayne's insights have been sought by over 150 live radio shows and national television news programs, and his writings have appeared in articles and lead stories in publications nationwide.
A father of 3 children, Tully lives in Monument Colorado with his wife of 33 years.
Dr. Charles E. McDaniel- Member of Executive Board of Directors-
Dr. Charles E. McDaniel has dedicated forty-seven years of his life to the improvement of driver education. His innovative programs and common sense approach to the task of driver improvement have helped to make him a recognized authority in this field. His dedication and efforts to improve driver education have resulted in his appointment or election to many regional and national organizations, all of which target the development of a better driver and a safer traffic environment.
Dr. McDaniel was born in Alabama in 1932, and obtained his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Florida State University . He served as a high school teacher and coach in Mariana and Melbourne , Florida , and later became athletic director and curriculum supervisor for driver and physical education for the Brevard County, Florida school system. He obtained his Doctorate in Curriculum Development/Highway Traffic Safety from Michigan State University in 1970. From 1966 to 1971, he was appointed to professorships at the University of Alabama , Memphis State University , the University of Alaska at Juneau , and San Diego State University in the field of Driver and Traffic Safety. His most recent tenure as a college professor was at Appalachian State University in Boone , North Carolina , where he served as director of the Center for Safety and Driver Education, and professor of safety and driver education from 1971 to his retirement in 1994. He currently holds the position of Professor Emeritus at Appalachian State University.
During his tenure at Appalachian State, Dr. McDaniel was project director for the development of a basic level emergency medical technician training program for the North Carolina Office of Emergency Medical Services. He designed an advanced driving maneuvers and emergency vehicle operator program that set new standards in driving skills development for use in government, commercial, and industrial applications. In addition, during the 1980's he was instrumental in the development of a unique anti-terrorist driving program for professional chauffeurs. He has designed off-street multiple-car driving ranges in Florida , Georgia , North Carolina , Iowa , the State of Washington, California, and for the DeKalb County, Georgia National Driver Education Study.
He has held memberships in the American Society of Safety Engineers, the American Academy of Safety Education, in Phi Delta Kappa, and has served on the boards of the National Safety Council and the Florida Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association. He is a former president of both the American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association and the Southeast Region of the American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association. Dr. McDaniel has also received numerous state, regional, and national awards for his efforts in driver and traffic safety. He has been a member of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (NEA), and has served as an instructor/trainer for five distinct driver improvement programs conducted throughout the United States.
Following his retirement from Appalachian State University, Dr. McDaniel established his own company dedicated to driver improvement. Consolidated Driving Programs, Inc. offers courses in driver education that are relevant to private, industrial, governmental, and commercial applications. These courses include programs for the beginning driver, drivers who are physically challenged, safe driving seminars, and advanced driving maneuvers programs for governmental organizations and industry. He is the author or co-author of several driver education and assessment manuals, including Parents Deserve A Brake, an innovative and practical teaching manual for parents who must supervise their teenage driver as part of a graduated driver's licensing program.
Dr. McDaniel became a member of the Executive Board of Directors of the National Driver Training Institute in 2000. He has maintained his board membership until present day and also serves as a trainer and advisor to NDTI.
Today, Dr. McDaniel lives in Boone with his wife Barbara, and stays occupied with his numerous interests in the field of driver education. However busy he may be, his first priority is his family, and especially his grandchildren, Josh and Ashley.
