Driving Instructor Michael Mercadante | Full Service Driver Education Since 1996

Mike

Professional driving instructor Michael Mercadante.

Michael Mercadante was born in Doylestown and grew up in Bucks County. A Pennridge High School graduate, he is currently pursuing an M.S. degree in Psychology with a dual specialization in Educational Psychology and Applied Behavior Analysis. He earned his B.A. degree with honors from Temple University in American History, and had undergraduate course work in Psychology, Film Production and Fine Art.

Over the past three years at Driver Training Services, Mike has helped hundreds of people aged 16 to 80 improve their driving. Mike has a particular passion for helping students with special training challenges, including those with ASD, Asperger Syndrome, AD/HD, anxiety disorders, dyslexia, PDD, TBI, Tourette’s and more. In addition to his graduate studies in Psychology and Applied Behavior Analysis, Mike has completed certificate training in autism and structured teaching methods from organizations including The Autism Society of America.

Mike has compiled thousands of hours supervising children and teens as a summer camp counselor, kindergarten teacher and teen programs coordinator. He has served as an Adjunct Professor and Guest Lecturer at local colleges and as a private tutor.

Prior to joining Driver Training Services in 2011, Mike spent nearly eight years working in traffic safety research on projects for a variety of private and government clients, including NHTSA, Safe Drive Technologies, AAA Foundation For Traffic Safety, FMCSA, AAMVA and PennDOT. He specialized in developing educational materials and utilizing driving simulators to train teens and seniors to be better, safer drivers.

Mike has driven cross-country and has explored roads in 38 states. He has served as a Chase Crew Chief for various hot air balloon companies since 1996 and is a student pilot. He recently performed precision driving maneuvers in a Hollywood film. He is also a filmmaker and artist whose latest film received its theatrical premiere in September 2012. He also designed Driver Training Services’ website and writes most of the content.

At Driver Training Services, Mike instructs students in the classroom, behind-the-wheel and on our state-of-the-art virtual reality driving simulators, and is a certified National Safety Council® Defensive Driving Instructor. He is the regular instructor for the monthly Alive At 25 classes. He has been interviewed on driving safety topics in various local news outlets, including newspapers, websites and radio stations. He recently participated in 8-hour continuing education seminars presented by the Pennsylvania Association of Professional Driving Schools (PAPDS), the Center for Autism Research (CAR) at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), the Driving School Association of the Americas (DSAA), Impact Teen Drivers and the PA Team DUI Coalition. Mike writes a blog on traffic safety issues for the Lansdale Patch and serves as a subject expert on various information websites. He is a member of the PA Teen Safe Driving Coalition.

Mike’s students: schedule your own driving lessons by logging into the Student Portal and selecting from the open appointments – at your convenience, 24/7!

Here are just some of the students Mike has helped get their driver’s license and become safe, defensive drivers.