A parent’s journey to readying teen to take the wheel

Like every paranoid parent, I try to dream up ways my kids don’t wind up dead on the road, part of the gruesome statistic that car crashes are the number one cause of youth deaths that we collectively suffer each year. As kids learn to drive, I’m learning a lot, too. Here are the latest two tips:

First, we want each of our kids to be driving a $1 million, 60,000-pound Bradley Fighting Vehicle to ensure their safety, but reality means getting them to jobs and classes in something a bit lighter: I gave my teen son a car to drive that was responsive to its controls and has only one passenger seat. It also has a manual transmission.

“I pay more attention to my driving when I’m shifting,” my son told me recently, adding it’s because he finds it almost impossible to text and use a manual gearbox.

A wave of relief washed over me when I heard that statement, being one of those parents desperately struggling to keep their driving teens from following the tragic norm of texting, snapchatting, gabbing, messaging and connecting instead of paying attention to driving. I deliberately made sure my son had a car with a low-powered four-cylinder engine, despite that current research showing speed is the cause of only one-fifth as many fatal accidents as distractions. But I never figured the car’s manual transmission would become the Ritalin of driving focus — an unexpected bonus.

In addition to the five-speed gearbox on my ancient Mazda Miata, the car also has a cassette tape player, an antique I figured would prevent an impromptu rolling MP3, AIFF or WAV digital concert that could distract him and a single passenger from paying attention to the road. So far, that tactic has worked, too.

Second, this summer my son participated in the Tire Rack Street Survival School, which offers a series of advanced one-day driving classes for young drivers, which are offered at closed tracks in the East and Midwest (streetsurvival.org).

Sponsors and host Tire Rack, Sports Car Club of America, BMW Car Club of America, Porsche Club of America, Audi Club North America, and Enterprise car rental, plus a brigade of volunteer racing drivers who have passed the stringent Sports Car Club of America’s instructor training, combine to keep the price at just $75 for a full day of one-on-one instruction for each youth.

The next class is Aug. 22 in South Bend, Indiana, just three hours drive from the west side of the Metro area. If you’ve had your fill of pre-cruising before the actual Dream Cruise the same day, the trip to the home of Notre Dame is a great getaway. Think of it as the cheapest insurance you’ll ever pay to keep your motorist kids alive.

I have taken seven high-performance driving courses, several from the famed Bob Bondurant, and a couple on ice from French rally driver Jean Paul Luc, both renowned masters of car control. And both costing four-figures for tuition. The single lesson I’ve learned in all of them is that there is always room to improve driving skill — professional racing drivers regularly attend driving schools. The Street Survival class introduces youths to safe speed dynamics, with the South Bend Tire Rack venue offering its sophisticated wet skid pad, similar to those you find at auto and tire manufacturer test tracks.

A few of the parents I spoke with while we watched our kids drive on the track mentioned they had signed up for the class after their kids had bad crashes on the road. Some were referred by friends who had taken the class, and had fun driving their cars on the track, where physics is the only speed limit. Emergency braking and lane-changing maneuvers were popular with most of the students, but most fun was the wet skid pad, where a few of the students’ cars spun into the flat grass surrounding the track.

What pleased me more about the course, however, was the emphasis to the youthful drivers that they need to take responsibility for their role in the way the system of traffic works. None of the kids I spoke to remember that concept being mentioned during their driver’s ed classes at high school, but I believe it’s vital to learn how every move you make on a road affects from one to many other cars. Impeding traffic can cause as many accidents as overtaking too much, the students agreed. While pointing out statistics to the students, such as a texting driver is 23 times more likely to be in an accident than a driver paying attention, instructor William Loring, who has worked for Tire Rack since 1997, also pointed out that 80 percent of all crashes and 65 percent of all “near misses” result from just three seconds of inattention immediately prior to the incident.

Teen drivers don’t have a death wish, I believe, and given the data and information, as well as a safe place to learn how a car behaves during extreme conditions is the best way to keep them from crashing. And if you’re really a nervous parent, make sure you get them a car with a manual gearbox.

Take driving lessons Leicester in your budget

You will also learn road etiquette and to read the signs on the road, the number of lessons to be taken varies between learners. Covering all the basics of car control, each lesson takes you a step closer towards your ultimate goal, to receive your full driving license. With top quality driving lessons Leicester the weeks will fly by and you'll be ready for your test before you know it. Learning to drive can be one of the biggest challenges that you're ever likely to face. You want to make sure that you're getting lessons from a top driving school to increase your chances of passing that all-important test, and if you're looking for the ultimate driving school Leicester then you can't get better. Want to know a great way to make savings on driving lessons Leicester? Book! Pay for a number of lessons in advance and you'll make savings in the long run.  There's no denying that weekly driving lessons Leicester will eat into your budget, why pay more when there's really no need. An experienced driving instructor has the ability to put you at ease, and you'll enjoy the driving lessons Leicester even more if you're relaxed. Book a course of driving lessons Liverpool  and your driving skills will steadily improve on a weekly basis due to the quality of the instruction that you receive.

New legislation would I.D.new drivers

There is legislation that would brand new drivers for their inexperience in an attempt to boost driver safety but not everyone thinks it’s a good idea.
“In theory it’s a great idea,” said Jacie Broughton, owner/operator of MHD Auto School in Marblehead. “That’s in theory but people don’t follow the rules of the road as it is.”
Daniel Luberto, a Saugus resident and Revere business owner, said a close-call with his son behind the wheel inspired the idea behind the legislation.
Luberto said his son was driving with him on Route 1 when a tractor trailer tailgated the car, causing the young driver to nervously swerve to the right, where he hit the curb.
"If there was something that could tell these people - professional drivers behind us - let them know this is a person in training," Luberto told the Transportation Committee last week, offering up two of his patented stickers identifying the car as a "learner's permit" and a "beginner driver." Luberto said, "We could have been dead."
Broughton however, said she believes the stickers might have the opposite effect. She said when she puts the Student Driver sign atop her car, it seems to trigger something in others on the road suddenly making them badly behaved drivers.
“They cut you off because they don’t want to be stuck behind you,” she said. “My kids will take their time checking an intersection and the person behind us will lay on the horn. They wouldn’t do it if it were just me in the car.”
Broughton said she’s had two student accidents in the eight years she’s been in business and neither were the fault of her students.
“Both were rear end collisions,” she said. “One (student) was sitting at a red light.”
The legislation (H 3114) was filed by Rep. RoseLee Vincent, a Revere Democrat and committee member. It requires the registrar to provide people with learner's permits a decal that must be displayed in a manner laid out by the registrar or face a $50 fine.
"I think it's a good idea to have new drivers be more identifiable but I'm not a big fan of big brother telling us what to do," said Edward Olbash, owner of the Olbash Driving School, which has schools at three locations, including Swampscott. "It's OK for the registry to offer the sticker and make it available but I don't think it should be mandatory. We already have signs on the cars notifying that the drivers are in training."

Enrolling for driving lessons Liverpool is the perfect decision

Driving lesson Liverpool teachers are extremely knowledgeable and have the right information that is needed for educating a person with full concentrate and commitment. If you are looking for a trainer to help you, or one of your family members to learn to drive, it is highly recommended that you search for a trusted service online. On the internet, you will be able to locate several intensive driving courses Liverpool institutes. Enrolling for driving lessons Liverpool is very essential if you love driving or commute daily. Driving lessons that are offered such as beginner lessons, hourly, lessons, refresher courses, motorway lessons, and more. To get a teenager to follow the rules of the road is a task that almost every parent has to go through. Of late, you will notice a number of driving lessons Liverpool institutes, who are more than willing to lend a trainer for your teenagers. 
Individual attention can help your teen learn to drive properly. These courses are unique in their approach as they are aimed at drivers of high performance. Driving lessons Liverpool has benefited many people all across the area. Students can learn to drive Liverpool roads with heavy duty vehicles, or simply cars, depending on their requirement.

AlertDriving Program Expands to Bolivia in New Channel Partnership

AlertDriving, the global leader in driver risk management, today announced a strategic new channel partnership Somare Consulting Group Srl., Bolivia’s leading provider international consulting, training and consultancy. Multinationals operating in local markets need reliable stakeholders who can meet or exceed international standards with zero workplace injuries. Because even one avoidable accident is one too many.

With that in mind, Somare has prepared companies partnering with global businesses such as YPFB, Total, Siemens and 3M to perform consistently, and safely. Somare’s proven, differentiated service training combines over 200 courses in a broad range of competencies. Customers across sectors have seen significant reductions in workplace injuries after implementing Somare’s highly specialized training—all for one reason: Somare’s courses apply skills in the workplace, instead of the classroom, to help participants learn.

Now, as a certified AlertDriving ADvantage partner, Somare can offer global fleets the same first-class service with the world’s most extensive driver risk management solution. “No other program except FleetDefense^SM can capture the actual behavioural deficiencies underlying a driver’s bad choices,” explains Rob Martin, Vice President of Sales at AlertDriving.

“Designed to train the way the brain learns best—over the long term, FleetDefense^SM can fit fleets of any size with personalized courses all targeting an individual’s specific risk factors.”

From day one, Somare can launch driver safety programs quickly, over a large area, since FleetDefense’s robust course library includes some 1,200 modules translated and localized in more than 100 languages. The global curriculum will expand and diversify Somare’s already extensive service portfolio, which includes international-level training and consultancy in occupational health and safety, the oil and gas sectors, human resources management, organizational diagnostics, and business process outsourcing.

ABOUT ALERTDRIVING: With over 1 million drivers trained, AlertDriving is dedicated to helping global fleets identify, mitigate and monitor their risk exposure. FleetDefense^SM, the company’s driver risk management suite, combines training in over 100 languages with built-in metrics giving fleets standardized risk reporting anywhere in the world.

Driving lessons Pontypridd enhance your driving skills and specialize you in driving

DrivingLessons Pontypridd

This has lead to the emergence of professional driving institutes that are known to provide advanced driving skills to its students to make them competent drivers. As people have reaped the benefit of such driving lessons, they feel this is the best investment to protect and save themselves as well as others on the road. Defensive driving also makes the students aware of the speed limit in driving as this is one of the major causes of accidents. Finally the students are taught about road safety by making them aware of all the rules and regulations of the road. Most people enroll in these schools to be trained enough in driving so as to pass into the license test. Over the years, these training institutes have evolved themselves by providing different courses to the people which will enhance their driving skills. Here at Pontypridd we specialize in driving lessons Pontypridd and our various packages include driving lessons Pontypridd options for all sorts of learner motorists, from total beginners to those who have been out of practice and want a few refresher drivinglessons Pontypridd to boost their confidence behind the wheel. The students are also given tips on handling bad weather conditions like rains,which often causes skidding, which are known to impose risk on the driver and others.

Driving lesson Folkestone: Understand your driving abilities and raise your confidence

The approved driving teachers of Folkestone are extremely experienced experts who are helpful and help you enjoy studying driving. Those who are looking for an ideal coming-of-age present for their kids, or even grandkids can do well by applying them in perfect educational institutions. We comprehend your studying speed and style and adjust themselves and educate driving in a way which would be the most convenient and effective way for you. Only the best experts in the most knowledgeable Driving instructors widely-used to in the school of motoring Folkestone. Driving lesson Folkestone is the place where we comprehend the different needs of students. All our coaching programs run for a period of few several weeks. The programs involve some time in car coaching and only few hours monitored concept coaching. Driving lessons Folkestone,Many individuals feel that driving is just a high-class but in the modern it is very much a requirement. In significant cities and places like Folkestone driving lesson is necessary for every resident who is 18 years old or above. The town has a couple of driving institution, but not all of them guarantee a skillful coaching.

The educating method of our instructors is exclusive and exciting. Training offered by them not only makes outstanding driver, but the driver that is accountable and effective. Once you have finished your course at a well-known driving school, you will not have anything to fear about. Search for an approved driving school and neglect the relax. At the end of your driving course you will be able to drive your car with a guarantee.

RTD to take action against errant driving school operators

Selangor Road Transport Department (RTD) will take action against driving school operators who fail to comply with RTD's regulations. Its director Datuk Valluvan Veloo said the department have been receiving many complaints from the public questioning the corruption at driving schools. Some of the complaints received are obtaining driving licence illegally, not following the ceiling prices set by RTD, giving a guarantee to students that they will pass although some may not fulfil the requirements set to obtain a licence.
Valluvan said RTD would not hesitate to suspend a driving school's licence if they were found guilty of corruption. He said the department would be constantly observing and monitoring these schools to ensure that the instructors follow the rules set by the department. "We want the institutions to be free of corruption so that the students will not commit any traffic offences once they obtain their driving licence. "Perhaps, by doing so we will be able to reduce the accident rate in the country," he said in a press conference, here, today.

Driving lessons Liverpool to boost your confidence behind the wheel

In Liverpool, you are going to find some pretty good driving school offering complete lessons of driving. Some of these not only give the right lessons, but at the right rate as well. Many young adults, being low on their budget usually chooses a driving school based on how much or how little the instructors charge for every lesson of driving. Of course, it’s not the proper way to move if you really want to achieve the most out of your driving lessons and if you want to become a responsible driver. A driving school bears a lot of importance in the lives of so many people who are about to set foot into adolescence and are ready to take on the next challenge in their lives – learning to drive. 

You can ask previous learners to give you guidance. We aid you to understand how to behave with pedestrians with regard and care. It means no one will have the chance to question your ethics and qualifications as the driver. Here at, Liverpool we specialize in driving lessons Liverpool and our various packages include driving lessons Liverpool options for all sorts of learner carters, from overall novice to those who have been out of practice and want a few refresher driving lessons Liverpool to boost their confidence behind the wheel. If you live in Liverpool or in any other state or region, you should take your driving lessons very seriously. Driving on the road is a big responsibility and therefore you should choose a driving school that offers best driving instructors as well as driving lessons Liverpool. Therefore, the first thing to discover is the experience and qualification of the instructors that teach at a particular driving school.