Maritime Roadwise & Defensive Driving School-MRD - Fall River, Nova Scotia

justin smith

I think this is a scam. I emailed them about the course. They emailed back saying to send money without providing any details and for months now I get really strange emails from them about being a “long lost lover” definitely weird

Evan Gallant

Both the classroom instructor and the in car instructor are amazing at explaining things in an easy to understand way, and were very helpful whenever I had a question.

They were very calm whenever I made a stupid mistake, and didn’t make me nervous enough to keep messing up (that was a problem I had when practicing with other people.)

I only have one minor complaint, which is about wait times. after you finish the in class lessons, there is about a 2-3 month delay to book in car lessons on the website. It is because they are booked up, so I get it, but still a bit of a dent in the overall experience.

Another thing future customers should know, which applies to ANY driving school, is that Driver’s Ed (or at least the minimum 25 classroom hours and 10 in car hours required for the certificate) is NOT enough to take a complete beginner to road test ready.

You WILL need someone else to practice with quite regularly (who is not a bad influence).

If you want to make the most of the lessons, take what you learned in one lesson, and master it with someone else before the next lesson. That way, you can be ready to move on and you won’t be stuck on learning how to turn properly for three lessons.

This is not a complaint, this is just overall advice to people considering Driver’s Ed.

I passed my road test first time. The instructors at MRD were a huge factor in that.

I practiced with my neighbour as well, and my parents. They taught me certain things that are either outdated or not allowed on a road test.

The instructors here noticed things nobody else noticed, and taught me things nobody else thinks about.

The biggest thing that they helped with, that I feel I could not have learned elsewhere, was all of the expectations and methods for maneuvers on a modern road test.

Overall, it was worth the money.

I can now drive to school, to work, and to pick up my girlfriend.

I can now go anywhere, and can travel at 20x the speed I could on foot, while listening to whatever music I want, in a car alone where nobody can judge me. It’s nearly a superpower.

I could not have passed the road test without them.

I am now planning a summer trip to the Cape Breton highlands thanks to them.

Mike was my in car instructor, he was great. Really good at explaining things as I said, and very calm when I made a mistake.

He was completely honest with me, while remaining as professional as possible. He told me when I wasn’t ready for something, and even though I disagreed, looking back, he was right.

Also, the Jetta I got to drive in was quite nice.

Amanda was my in class instructor, she was great too. Good at explaining things and answering my (sometimes stupid) questions.

Just remember, you WILL need other sources of practice.

I’m giving five stars because I believe it does not deserve the 3 star average it currently has.

I’ve read some other reviews. Maybe they used to have issues, but they have clearly ironed them out since.

If I’m being honest I’d do 4 stars because of the wait times.

Jason Crowell

Jett, our son, liked his course a lot at MRD Driving School and we can’t thank the instructors there enough, especially his in-car instructor Karen. Jett is a safe, smart driver thanks to learning the ropes form MRD. Highly recommend them.
Our other son Jarrett will be signing up shortly.

Padraig Doherty

We enrolled our child for a August 2022 summer session in the Sackville location.

It was delayed for a month. Then after the month we were told that Sunday sessions would no longer be transferred to the Fall river location.

Start time of course was pushed back a few more weeks.

Sessions finally started in October (2 months late).

Child had Covid symptoms the last day of course when they were supposed to write the test. We were told it could be rescheduled no problem.

The following week we were told he could not write the final test until the class after him were writing, furthermore we were not allowed to book any driving sessions until classroom session was done.

Finished the course in December. Told we couldn’t book sessions until the end of January. Did first session tried to book second. Got the runaround from the Driving instructor. Finally booked second session. Then we were put on ignore for weeks.

Finally decided to complain to owner.

Was told by an employee they were in Mexico for two months and they would be in touch “Whenever they checked there email.”

Following week got an email from owner saying “They were sorry we weren’t a good fit with the driver and they were going to put us with the owner, to book through his Calendar”

Told them it wasn’t that we weren’t a good fit, it was just not possible to book anything at all with them. Got ignored again.

Trying to book sessions now, can’t book any before June (is currently April 3rd.)

Road test was scheduled for this month back in December.

By the time we are all said and done it’s going to be close to a year to complete a 5 week course.

The owners don’t seem to have any interest in doing even the bare minimum to meet their obligations.

This is a 1 star review as Google wouldn’t allow a zero.

Avoid this place at all costs, once they have your money they are literally off to Mexico.

Andrea Jenkins

Instructors did not show up for in-car lessons, pre booked in-car lessons were canceled without reason, driving lessons to high schoolers only offered during school hours. Have been trying since July to get 8 in-car lessons completed. It’s now almost November

Have sent more than 10 emails, 20 phone calls and no one has responded. They did however respond to this post.

Business is not located at the address provided.

Vriska Serket

Terribly managed, my child's road test was delayed by over a MONTH due to poor scheduling on MRD's part. We tried everything we could to accommodate this unreasonable experience, but in all it was hardly worth the money. Have been seeing many similar horror stories from other parents in the community, so this is clearly a common issue with the business. On top of poor and at times outright rude communication, I witnessed an MRD INSTRUCTOR, not a student, make an illegal and dangerous passing maneuver around a school bus that was stopped to let off children. Frankly horrifying.

Shannon Brown

2024 edit - it blows my mind that you still claim negative reviews are fake, false or an attack on you -- and that you can not own up to your mistakes, so many people with similar stories - again-your lack of professionalism is appalling.
7/30/21 edit - your response is laughable! There are not 2 sides to this story, you yourself told me at the time that it was an series of unfortune events that led to my sons delay getting any driving time. It had NOTHING to do with his readiness for the driving test as I stated it was 2 months before you got him in a car for his first lesson with MRD. We were not rushing anything, he was nearing 18 and already had lots of experience driving with his father. Stop making fake excuses and own up to your lack of professionalism! The way you handle bad reviews says ALOT about you as a person. You constantly claim they are fake reviews LOL. I suggest taking a close look at how you are running your business and I suggest everyone with kids needing drivers ed to look elsewhere in the meantime.

I was hesitant to use MRD because of reviews I had heard and read but I took a chance because location was convenient. Everyone has their own experience and I understand some people had great experiences but ours was just not that great it took months to even get my child out driving once the classroom portion ended, the extra money for teen smart was (for us) a waste of money, when I did ask for a partial refund I got a whole $20, because this felt like a slap in the face I donated it to a local animal rescue, I believe I may have been blocked because I did send another email but did not get a response. This happened earlier this year, I purposely didn't write a review at the time because I didn't want to write a review when angry and frustrated, I understand there were some different circumstances going on at the time that resulted in difficulty getting (some?) students out driving but because of this experience we are using a different company for our other child. I will say that Amanda was pleasant to deal with via text/email and Larry was a great instructor. The owner of the business is completely unprofessional and rude.

edited to add: 8/2020 - my youngest child just completed Drivers Ed with Safety Services in Burnside - highly recommend! Was a wonderful experience all the way around and worth leaving our community to get such great service.

Lisa ringer

Don’t do it!
I wanted to support local and it was a big mistake!
The first portion where they learn the classroom studies was fine but when it came to booking the road sessions this is where it was a disaster
We had pre booked all lessons online and everyone was cancelled by MRD driving school saying they were short staffed and had to reschedule so these were pushed out by a month! Not a few days but a month
Reason we took our daughter as she wanted her licence in 9 months
Because of their lack of employees the customer pays
Finally the day before her first driving session we get an email telling us that if our 16 year old daughter does not have 3 vaccines she is ineligible for the driving lesson!!!! The province does not ask for this and for them to demand my child have 3 vaccines? I’m not sure where they come off asking for this
She is double vaccinated and would be wearing a mask but they wanted 3 vaccines?
We tried calling but they refused to call us and said to text them
We asked for the refund of the driving portion that had been paid and this was a week ago and we still have not received our money apparently their book keeper is away!!!
A huge huge headache
We ended up taking our daughter to
high class driving in sackville and they are amazing to deal with she already had 4 out of her 5 driving sessions completed!
Live and learn II do not recommend them