Dutchess School of Driving

Maria Dominijanni and two of her instructors, Mike Angelo and Steve Saracini, visited Carmel to talk about plans for expanding the Dutchess School of Driving into the Carmel-Mahopac-Brewster area this year. ERIC GROSS The year gone by was one of the most devastating for serious regional traffic mishaps.

Numerous fatalities were reported in 2009 throughout the Putnam, northern Westchester, and southern Dutchess area, with scores of other drivers receiving serious injury as a result of driver inattention and lack of experience.

The Dutchess School of Driving, a New York State-licensed organization located in the town of East Fishkill, is determined to reverse that tragic trend and is expanding its service area into the Putnam region this year.

Maria Dominijanni, proprietor of the school, expressed hope that through proper training “my staff and I can save a life or two in 2010, which will accomplish our mission.”

Dominijanni called today’s teens “a real challenge. Many of them are raised in an environment of video games and simulators. They get into a car and believe it’s nothing more than another video game, and it’s not—as far too many parents found out in 2009.”

The entrepreneur and her sister, Isa Marinaro, have been in the driving school business for 25 years and were the first women to open a driving school in New York State. The Formula One Driving School continues to operate in Westchester.

In 2002, the sisters opened the school in East Fishkill which currently employs six instructors. Dominijanni decided to focus on Putnam County this year due to the increase of carnage reported on local roads as well as threatened reductions in state aid to education, which may result in area schools reducing or eliminating driver education programs.

Putnam residents enrolling in the school this month will be given a free five-hour classroom pre-licensing course as an incentive. Michael Angelo teaches the course.

“Young people enrolling are told from the beginning the course is a ‘nononsense’ assignment. There are no cell phones allowed. Students are advised that a test follows the course and if the student does not do well, he or she will not receive the required New York State DMV certificate for completion. The students realize the course is not a game or a party and the results are amazing,” said Angelo.

Steve Saracini, the former safety director in the Lakeland School District, who now is employed as an instructor with the driving school, described Angelo’s lecture as being “dynamic. It’s a beautiful thing to see. Young people quickly realize that time or energy will not be wasted during the course.”

The school is geared to more than new drivers. Dominijanni said many senior citizens seek refresher courses while those with health issues involving a medical condition such as a stroke are required to rehabilitate themselves: “Physicians at the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains or other rehabilitation centers seek our opinions as to whether the individual should drive or not. Our instructors test the patient’s skills, reaction time and perception as well as overall driving ability. A written report is forwarded to the physician as well as the medical facility and the Department of Motor Vehicles. The goal is to determine whether the individual still possesses required driving skills or whether the patient should hire a driver for future transportation needs.”

The Dutchess School of Driving employs only state-certified instructors. Prices range from $70 for a one hour lesson to complete packages that include a number of hours behind the wheel, the 5-hour pre-licensing course, road test appointment, use of a car for the road test and a completion certificate.

Residents of the area interested in learning more about the program and plans to offer courses in the Carmel area later this year are asked to call the school at 226- 6700. Visit the school on the web at dutchessschoolofdriving.com.