Weston Couple Opens New Driving School With 'Fresh Approach' in Fairfield

By VINCENT SALZO (Patch Staff)

A Weston couple has has opened a new driving school with a “fresh” approach in Fairfield.

Fresh Green Light, founded by Weston’s Steve Mochel and his wife Laura Shuler in an effort to create safer teen drivers, is located at 1495 Black Rock Turnpike in Fairfield. It is the company’s sixth location in Connecticut.

Mochel and Shuler are the parents of four teenage drivers.

“As parents, we instinctively worry and protect our children from the moment they are born,” Mochel said in a press release. “Many parents don’t realize that getting behind the wheel of a car is the most dangerous situation their child will probably ever be in.”

Shuler said, “When our oldest son started to learn to drive, Steve and I noticed the curriculum hadn’t changed since 1949. This sparked the idea for a more modern driver’s education experience that’s more engaging, convenient, and more effective for teens and parents today.”

Some of the progressive learning techniques used by Fresh Green Light include: using tablet computers in hybrid cars to provide parents with feedback on their students’ progress as well as tips for what to practice with them; its instructors are trained and certified to work with ADHD students; some classrooms include driving simulators that let kids experience the real-world outcomes of dangerous driving behaviors (such as texting and other distracted driving incidents) without putting them or anyone at risk; and Fresh Green Light is rolling out online cognitive training.

Read more from the press release below:

According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, teens have the highest automobile crash rate of any age group in the United States, killing more than 5,600 teens each year. The first year of driving is one of the most dangerous for teenagers with 50 percent of teens reporting accidents within 12 months of getting their license.

However, Fresh Green Light students report dramatically fewer accidents compared to the national average. “Only 12.5% of our students report having an accident their first year on the road, but we won’t stop until it is zero.” Mochel states.

In Fairfield, Fresh Green Light will offer a state of the art classroom at 1495 Black Rock Turnpike (2nd Floor ) as well as offering its signature high tech, one-on-one driver’s education training with convenient home pick-up and drop off and online scheduling.

The full Teen Driver Training Program is $749, which includes a 30-hour Safe Driving Course and eight hours of private in-car instruction.

Learn more at www.freshgreenlight.com, or call 203.861.1188.

Pictured: Founders, and Weston residents, Steve Mochel and Laura Shuler in front of a Fresh Green Light Car. Contributed photo.