Ned M

iTrader: (2)

We were fortunate to be able to enroll my almost-18 year old in a Drivers Edge class held at Turfway Park in N. Kentucky yesterday. This was the first time Drivers Edge has been in the Cincinnati market and the response was huge. Several local corporations sponsored tuition for the event so what normally would cost up to $450 was free to us because my wife called as soon as she saw a short newspaper article 2 weeks ago. Many parents attended with their kids, as did we.

The 4 hour course is targeted at newly licensed teens and gives them the opportunity to experience what it's like to use ABS from about 50 mph and do avoidance manuevers at the same time, and also how to recover from an induced spin on wet pavement. The course is laid out with cones on a parking lot where there's nothing to hit, of course. Cars used were Chevy Impalas for the ABS stuff and BMW 3-series for the spin exercises.

There was also a practical classroom segment on stuff like using your eyes, thinking ahead of where the car is, tire contact patch, weight transfer, over/understeer, and other basics of good seating position, mirror adjustments, tire pressures, etc. They shared local data on the accident rates for teen drivers and showed a video of a particularly wrenching single car accident a couple of years ago in Las Vegas in which a Mustang with 5 kids in it hit a pole at less than the legal limit when the driver was distracted for just a moment and overcorrected her mistake. The car split in half, 2 died, and 1 lost a leg.

All instruction is done by professional race drivers and instructors, mostly from open wheel series like Star Mazda, Infiniti Pro, and Toyota Atlantic. Another guy teaches at Skip Barber. They all proved engaging and personable, and the kids related well to them.

My daughter, like many other girls, went with some reluctance but by the end of the afternoon was very glad she'd gone. Most of the boys get a wakeup call that they're not really a 9 on a scale of 10 w/respect to their car control abilities. This is one of the few safe ways for them to get a taste of the limits of a car and the limits of their ability to control one. The hoped-for outcome is less risk-taking and fewer accidents. Drivers Edge claims something like 53 percent fewer accidents for participants that've had the course.

For more info visit www.driversedge.org

I highly recommend if you get the opportunity for your kid.