About Us

Arizona Chapter National Safety Council (ACNSC) was founded in 1949. It is a locally controlled Arizona non-profit Corporation [501(C) 3]. Acknowledging National Safety Council´s first 40 years of operation as a critical non-profit public service agency, a special act of the United States Congress chartered the National Safety Council (NSC) as a corporate body under fed¬eral law. There are 1.4 million non-profit organizations throughout our nation, all dedicated to the betterment of society and its members. Of all of these, only 91 operate under such Special Acts of Congress. These unique and rare federal charters assign missions. Ours is to arouse and maintain the interest of the people of the United States in accident prevention and health enhancement.

The goal of Arizona Chapter National Safety Council´s Defensive Driving Course is to provide Arizona drivers with knowledge and safe driving techniques that help reduce exposure to collisions and violations. The course focuses on collision prevention through hazard recognition and application of collision-avoidance techniques.

In 1964, at the request of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and under the guidance of the President of the National Safety Council (former Arizona Governor Howard Pyle) NSC developed the Nation´s original Defensive Driving Course (DDC). Today, after almost 40 years of continuous improvements, it is still the first name in driver improvement. Since introduction, the Defensive Driving Course has been taught to nearly 75 million drivers in the U.S., Canada and abroad.

During these years, 35 specialized versions of the course have been created to meet the unique needs of various vehicles, age groups, and driving conditions. National Safety Council Defensive Driving Courses are currently taught in 16 countries. All of these programs are centered on the proven effectiveness of NSC´s basic defensive driving principles. The underlying goal of DDC is to train drivers in collision prevention techniques while fostering an attitude of mutual understanding, courtesy and cooperation on the road.

No other driver improvement course has a higher rate of success in reducing the severity and frequency of collisions for its graduates. No other driver improvement course is so widely used as that of NSC. Courts, municipalities, schools, business industry, community groups and the general public employ it. After almost a half of a century of teaching people to drive defensively, our growth is vigorous, and our position continues to be number one.