Drivers Education. To me, a roadblock on the path to sweet driving freedom. Hours of watching boring safety videos sandwiched between hours of “practice” parallel parking and using my turn signal behind the wheel of a sweet rusted out Volvo with a huge warning sign on it. Weeks’ worth of agony culminating to a couple mile driving test and a 30 minute written test. The graphic warnings that flashed on the TV screen and all the small bits of advice I had heard from my instructors during the six week course faded away as soon I walked out of the DMV. I had passed the test, cleared the obstacle, and earned my right to drive a car. Out of the way- Zane coming through! Luckily to everyone, especially my parents, I never got in an accident during those first few years behind the wheel.
Many new drivers, most probably with the same attitude as I had, are not so lucky. The statistics are grim. 47% of all new drivers get in an accident within a year. 37% within two years. In 2004, 7,898 young adults aged 15-20 were involved in an accident that included a fatality. Of those nearly eight-thousand, 3,449 were the fatality. With drivers education a requirement in many if not all states to obtain a license, how is it that nearly half of all new drivers are getting into an accident? What are we educating them about, if not how to avoid getting hurt while driving?
While still essential and beneficial, the typical after-school course only has the time, budget, and insurance to cover the basics. Much of it only verbally. Of course the rebellious tendencies of the age group do not stand to help much either. As someone who distinctly remembers the day that parents little comments of advice metamorphasized from outright silliness to tidbits of wisdom, I’m still young enough to remember the mindset of a sixteen year old. Before that day, I heeded little advice and found out the hard way. All the practice behind the wheel with my parents and especially in the school’s car with an instructor only prepared me for the norm. Everyday driving with nothing fancy or dangerous in the least. It’s the metaphorical 1% of the time that things go wrong and no amount of practice with Mom or Dad is going to prepare a young adult on how to react when suddenly the car in front of them brake checks and there’s no way they can stop in time. No human being alive can adequately make an educated choice to counter act a situation they’ve never experienced before in a second or less. It seems a shame many teenagers involved in fatal automobile crashes could have bypassed “the hard way” had they only gotten a little firsthand experience in those 1% conditions before they found themselves smack dab in the middle of an emergency maneuver.
Wouldn’t you like to feel how your car reacts when you try to turn too quickly or apply the brakes at the wrong time in a safe environment? How about a full panic stop from sixty miles per hour? These are only a few situations that every driver should be familiar with but usually are not. A study by Mercedes-Benz found that on average often only 60% of a vehicle’s available braking force is used immediately before a collision. As surprising as it sounds- many either got distracted or just all together didn’t know how much to push on the brakes. Stupid? Absolutely. But you can’t blame someone for simply not knowing what to do.
Massachusetts based In Control Advanced Driver Training sees the disparity between what Driver’s Education intends to achieve and what its limitations are. They understand how the gap in adequate training is under preparing many new and experienced drivers alike. Based among a small handful of permanent and temporary locations around New England, In Control ADT offers what could only be described as the next logical step for any teenager after drivers ed and an essential experience for those who’ve been on the road for a while. To sum it up, In Control offers hands on experience driving a car to its limits in real-world exercises offering the student a chance to learn how to react when the unexpected happens. Different than the traditional racing schools you may be inclined to imagine In Control offers a short four-hour morning or afternoon course using Toyota Camrys. No, this is not a “drive a Z06 around a race track!” kind of thing. You’ll actually learn usable information for every day driving here.
Students alternate between in car and classroom style exercises. During a four hour class students learn a bevy of information divided into four compact lessons. Each exercise starts and ends with brief classroom sessions allowing students a large majority of their time behind the wheel getting one-on-one instruction from professionals. All of the instructors are car nuts and very often have racing licenses to boot, so you’ll never have to doubt for a second if what you’re being told is correct. Useful topics are discussed, practiced, and expounded on from high speed lane changes to panic stops and even include the importance of clearing the snow off your vehicle in the winter. Tailgating, speeding, cell phone use, winter tire use, and the misunderstanding that an SUV is safer in the winter are just a few of the many great topics covered.
Perhaps more important than the fine details of what In Control covers in the course is the impression placed on students after they have completed it. My fiancée, who winced when I told her what I had signed us up for, ended up left smiling, excited, and without fear of pointing out exactly everything that I did “wrong” driving us home after the afternoon course. Sure, I could have gone without being reminded of the 3-second rule every couple exits, but in an odd way it put a satisfying smile on my face. A great driver already, she still pulled valuable amounts of car driving knowledge out of the course. She and I both came away extremely impressed that the instructors took their time to ensure each student got the absolute most out of the experience. It wasn’t uncommon for an instructor to run through an exercise a dozen times with a student who wanted more practice, even if everyone else figured it out in two or three tries.
As a state certified school in Massachusetts, students who take the course get more than a fun afternoon and a fancy piece of paper when it’s all done. They get a clear and defined benefit. Statistics provided by Mass DMV indicate drivers who complete the level one course are involved in substantially fewer accidents. By substantially, I mean 70% fewer. That’s far from an insignificant number and backed up by actual data from the DMV records. In a perfect world where everyone had training similar to what In Control offers, 5,500 of those 7,898 fatal accidents in 2004 would have been avoided or reduced in severity.
Because the results are so dramatic, some insurance agents are actually stepping up to the plate and paying out of their own pocket for customers to take the course. Even if you have to pay for the class out of your own pocket, many insurance companies are giving discounts of up to 10% on monthly premiums to drivers who’ve taken the course. Anyone who insures a new driver would undoubtedly take any discount they can get. In this case, the course really does pay for itself. To encourage students who’ve taken the class to get their friends to take it as well, In Control offers $25 for each referral of a new student. One enthusiastic high-schooler signed up her entire class and took home nearly $5,000. If you can’t convince someone with statistics, or the thought of saving money- usually getting some cold cash does the trick.
In a world where headlines and drama are too often used to get information across, it’s a nice change of pace to slow down, be prepared, and have first-hand experience in an area that can and will save your life someday. In Control offers its four-hour course for $299. In my experience, it’s worth every penny. New drivers are prepared for the inevitable and parents can get some peace of mind when their young adult asks for the keys. For experienced drivers it can also educate, inform, and prepare them for when the worst happens. Accidents are just that- accidents. That does not mean you cannot do something to counteract them. In Control ADT offers much more than a simple driving class- it offers drivers of all ages an opportunity to be a safer and more courteous driver for not only themselves but for everyone.
In Control Advanced Driver Training
188 Main Street, Suite 202
Wilmington, MA 01887
(987) 658-4144
www.wedriveincontrol.com
info@wedriveincontrol.com
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Published November 28, 2008 by Zane Merva
Filed Under: News, Safety