Here in Ohio, 70 percent of new drivers receive a ticket or have an accident
within their first year of driving, and I'd guess the numbers are similar
across the US. I have a client who trains police, corporate fleet, senior
and teen drivers in advanced vehicle dynamics, and among his teen graduates,
that rate is 20 percent.
One day I ran his autocross course a number of times in my Audi S4 Turbo
Quattro (older version with 20v 5 cylinder - maybe 290 hp w/mods). My best
time after 15 or so runs was 28.3 seconds. My buddy ran his race prepped 944
and got similar numbers. Then one of my client's senior instructors came
over and ran the course in the driver ed car, a 4 cylinder Ford Contour with
an automatic, and his first run was 25.3 seconds.
Driver skill is the single most important factor in safety on the road,
period. Bottom line: if you want your kids to be safe, get them good,
competent training as early as possible! It's an investment that pays
dividends for a long, long time.
Then there was the time I was the chase vehicle for the police high speed
pursuit course..... WOO HOO! I wish all my clients were this fun!
Chris Eck
59 Bugeye
59 TR3A
In a message dated 3/8/01 9:56:28 PM Eastern Standard Time, soavero@yahoo.com
writes:
> Guys, my kids are still years away from driving, but
> I'm gonna do what a buddy of mine did - he sent his
> daughter to Skip Barber car control school the weekend
> after she got her license. If I didn't see it with my
> own eyes, I wouldn't even repeat this, but I saw her
> beat a Mustang GT in a slalom with an AMC station
> wagon (if you don't think driving skill means a lot
> more than horsepower, you never saw Flounder toss the
> Red Rat Bastard Sprite around the track). She has
> never had an accident or a ticket in 6 years, and
> claims she doesn't speed excessively because she
> learned to respect what a car can and can't do in
> driving school. My buddy figures he made up the
> school price in speeding tickets, insurance increases
> and body work that never happened.
|