PITTSFIELD, Mass. - Educating drivers is a family business for Jeff Coco. His father Dave started Dave’s Driving School in Pittsfield in the early 1970s.

“I just like being able to train the students, giving them a new skill, and at the end, knowing that they have some new freedom," Coco said. "But also some more responsibility, a lot of responsibility, in becoming a licensed driver.”

Coco said a big part of being a responsible driver is learning how to drive safely and utilizing those methods.

“The basis of our driving school is obviously defensive driving,” he said.

Defensive driving is the practice of using driving strategies which minimize risk and help avoid accidents.

“We try to instill in them blind spot checks," Coco said. "Keeping our eyes constantly moving, getting a big picture looking way up the road so they can get the information coming into where they're driving to so they can also be ready to react or make maneuvers whenever necessary.”

In moments where a driver near you seems to be in a rush, Coco said to eliminate the stress of aggressive drivers by moving over.

“The best thing to do is to avoid them," Coco said. "Anybody that's an aggressive driver, it's better off just to pull over, let them go, let the problem go away and then continue on with what you're doing.”

While defensive driving is all about minimizing accidents, they can still happen. Coco said it’s important to always remain calm.

“If you do get into an accident, just leave the cars where they're at, exit the car and call the police," he said. "They are trained professionals that can come out and review the accidents in a crash scene now and make a determination as to who's at fault for the accident. There's no sense of getting in the middle of a discussion while you're on the road when the professionals and law enforcement can come out and do it themselves.”