Krzysztof Kris Kawa, driving instructor at Smart Driving Academy

Meet your instructor

Krzysztof “Kris” Kawa

Driving Instructor · Bus & Coach Instructor · CPC Trainer · Driver Coach

An RSA Approved Driving Instructor for both car (B) and bus/coach (D), a dual qualification very few instructors in Ireland hold, and an approved Driver CPC trainer working daily with professional drivers in one of Ireland's largest passenger transport operations. You're learning from someone who holds real drivers to a professional standard every day, not a teacher who only knows the test.

Most people meet a driving instructor once, to pass a test. I spend my days on the other side of that standard: training, assessing and coaching the professional drivers who carry thousands of passengers safely every day, within one of Ireland's largest passenger transport operations.

I'm a Road Safety Authority Approved Driving Instructor (ADI) for both car (B) and bus/coach (D), and an approved Driver CPC trainer certified to deliver four of the national periodic training modules. I also hold the CILT Transport Manager CPC in both passenger transport and road haulage, the qualification an operator needs to run a licensed fleet. That background is what you feel in a lesson. I'm not coaching you to scrape a pass. I'm bringing you up to a real professional standard, calmly and patiently, at a pace built around you.

Whether you're a nervous learner taking your first EDT lesson, a driver rebuilding confidence after years away, or someone progressing into professional driving, my goal is the same: clear, practical training in real conditions that makes you a good driver, not only ready for the test.

“Anyone can teach you to pass. My job is to make you the kind of driver who's still safe twenty years from now.”

Qualifications & accreditations

  • RSA Approved Driving Instructor (ADI) — Car (Category B)
  • RSA Approved Driving Instructor (ADI) — Bus/Coach (Category D)
  • Approved Driver CPC Trainer — four RSA modules:
    • Minimising Risks & Managing Emergencies in the Transport Industry (MRMET)
    • Health & Safety of the Professional Driver (HSOPD)
    • The Professional Bus Driver (PROBD)
    • Role of the Professional Driver in the Transport Industry (RPDTI)
  • QQI Level 6 — Passenger Vehicle Driving Instruction
  • QQI Level 6 — Training Delivery & Evaluation (Train the Trainer)
  • QQI Level 5 — Occupational Health & Safety
  • QQI Level 5 — Occupational First Aid
  • CPC Transport Manager — Passenger Transport (CILT)
  • CPC Transport Manager — Road Haulage (CILT)
  • Full licence — all categories except motorcycle: B, BE, C, C+E, D and DE

Currently completing

  • ADI certification for C and C+E