TEEN DRIVERS GO WILD FOR SAFETY’S SAKE
There comes a time when every mom or dad has to let go. The babies we once smothered with love finally need to stand by themselves. As parents, we’re obligated to set them free. It’s our job. The first time I set my son free on his little red bicycle — training wheels freshly removed — he wobbled a few feet from my reach, hit the side of a parked car and went down hard. Way to go, Dad.
How quickly my blond five- yearold went from a rolling picture of glee and confidence to a sobbing, bleeding mess. I picked the small stones out of his hands, smeared away tears from his dusty cheeks and lifted him back onto his bent seat. Again and again I was forced to let go, until he got it right and found his balance.
Now 17, my son Liam needs to be set free again, this time behind the wheel of 1,700 kilograms of iron, aluminum and plastic. While parked cars, bumpers and side mirrors are still in jeopardy, so is Liam’s confidence. We need to get the ground rules of driving right the first time. Too much is at stake. Not just financially, but emotionally and physically. It’s no exaggeration to say that the rest of his driving life depends on what he will learn today.
And for this specific job — this task of teaching him how to be a better driver — the lessons can’t come only from me or Mom: After all, every parent has bad habits that get passed along to their son or daughter. And it’s harder to break bad habits than to teach new ones.
Take mirrors and shoulder checks, for example. How many of us think there’s a thing called a blind spot? There is no such thing. How many believe it’s OK, when adjusting the side mirrors, to see just a wee slice of the car? If so, you’re doing — and teaching — it wrong. How many think 10 and two is the best place to hold the wheel? Wrong again. How many realize that 95 per cent of driving problems come from “bad eyes” on the road? But where should those eyes be?
For BMW, the tenets of driving are so crucial that in 1999 the company set up a Teen Driving School out of its Performance Center track in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and has just opened a new facility in California. Heavily booked and using a variety of new BMW models with automatic transmissions, the program has seen more than 4,500 teens take part over the years.
A one- day program that gives driving instruction for both adult and child, including everything but the travel, costs $ 775. Canadians are welcome. Some insurance companies even recognize it and may provide a discount on your premium.
But this summer, BMW is also taking its teen driving program on the road — offering free, twohour programs in 10 major cities across the U. S. Teenagers will be taught vehicle dynamics in realworld applications, emphasizing the dangers of distraction. The goal is to have them realize, learn and understand in “ah ha” moments.
For Liam, whose driving experience to this point has amounted to roughly 48 hours behind the wheel of the family minivan, the teen course resulted in a lot of “oh crap” moments.
One of the first came as he drifted a new BMW 335i with 300 horsepower around a watered- down skid pad. At 50 km/ h, as the back end of the car began to step right, he failed to dial enough steering into the skid. The car, of course, did a complete 180- degree spin. It was almost elegant, if not correct.
His instructor then made him counter for the oversteer again and again until he got Liam’s brain, eyes and hands to react correctly and in concert. And, lo and behold, before long, he was comparing himself to Ken Block.
The year- round Spartanburg course, which can be taken over one or two days, pushes teens hard. It gets them out of their comfort zone.
“We are going to wail on these cars,” says lead instructor Derek Leonard, 44, the father of three boys. “Drive these cars like you didn’t pay for the tires.
“If you’re not a little anxious, you’re not doing it right.”
How cool is that? At this age, the teen brain is still developing; they are probably the most reckless they will ever be, prone to doing weird things, like wearing shorts to school in winter or refusing to wear gloves when it’s - 10 C outside. Yet BMW lets them out with $ 50,000 cars and says, “Have at it.”
Over the course of the morning in Spartanburg, teens learn when to brake, where to brake, how to brake. They discover how to look, where to look, how to properly adjust the seat, steering wheel and mirrors. They begin to control for oversteer and understeer, how to make emergency avoidance lane changes, how “not to kill the kitten” crossing the road.
They are reminded they cannot, no matter how hard they try, break the cars. They are instructed how to use ABS braking to its full effect.
“We want you to generate tire smoke,” says Leonard.
That’s not because BMW wants teenagers to be reckless drivers. Far from it. The goal here, above all else, is to make teenagers safer, more responsible drivers. Teens need to understand what a car, and its driver, can do in a variety of scary situations. Parallel parking is good for passing a driver’s test, but it won’t save anyone’s life in an emergency, when a car starts to upset, or a crash on the highway is imminent, when the moment calls for avoidance and escape. At this split second, the teen needs to know how to handle the situation, right there and then — or face some very unpleasant consequences.
The BMW course isn’t about passing an arbitrary test, it’s about taking control when control is slipping away, the difference between avoiding a crash or ending up in one, and about spotting dangers before they happen and buying time to react. It’s about changing the future.
Knowing this much, adds Leonard, gives the teen driver a better chance to save not just the car and its passengers, but him or herself. Yes, that takes some letting go for parents, but we do it because we love them.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO SOUTH OF THE BORDER FOR QUALITY DRIVING SCHOOLS
Canada has a wealth of performance driving schools. BMW, Mercedes, Porsche and Audi all host various driving courses for different levels of drivers, including teens, in various environments, from winter and ice to race tracks. Details can be found on their respective websites.
Other driving schools teach basic and/ or advanced skills, such as Jim Russell, Ron Fellows and Skip Barber. BMW will also offer a teen driving program this summer in Toronto for young drivers at a cost of $ 450 for a half day, on July 4 and 12.
Drive these cars like you didn’t pay for the tires. If you’re not a little anxious, you’re not doing it right.