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.
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.
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