For those with kids of driving age - Driver's Edge is a MUST

We just finally had Driver's Edge in our area and I had both my teens do it. I've gotta say - it is by far, the BEST thing I've seen for teen drivers. You can see their site at Driver's Edge SIGN UP for info for when they come to your area and GET YOUR CHILD IN ON THIS!

There was a discussion time in the beginning with Jeff Payne who is a race car driver and the founder of the program. They showed a video of one particular car crash in Las Vegas that killed 2 girls and had another lose her leg. They showed the whole thing from the 911 calls, through the scenes of the accident to interviewing one of the girls who was in the hospital in serious condition. VERY moving and VERY effective. He then introduced the team - every single one of them are race car drivers!!

The first module we did was for the kids to get behind the wheel (of new BMWs) with the race car driver in the passenger seat and they went off at top speed then hit the brakes hard to feel what anti-lock brakes feel like. Then they did an obstacle avoidance manuver as if something fell off a truck in front of them or whatever. Some of the kids skidded, some did great. Worst case? They knock down some cones. Each kid went through both of these movements atleast 3 times. They then were passengers as 2 other kids did the same thing - so they got the benefit of hearing the co-pilot give instruction.

The second module had the kids learning how to deal with a skid. A wet track and a 90 degree turn insured a good skid (as did fast driving) and the kids learned what to do in a true skid. Some kids ended up doing more than 180s and going backwards but they had the experience in a safe area with a coach. How cool is that??

Finally, they met with one more person who went over the systems in the car (fluids, tires, etc.), just HOW to sit in the seat and why, and wearing a seatbelt. (One thing that they said was very effective - the fastest a person can run is about 15 mph and most people would not be dumb enough to run full speed into the side of a building - yet they will drive 5X that speed without a seatbelt - which would do much more severe damage if they were in an accident. GREAT point!).

At the end, there was an awards time and they gave away a GREAT prize to a young man (start/finish line tickets, 2 laps in the pace car, dinner, etc at the Watkins Glen, NY race). VERY cool! They then gave the kids all car kits (jumper cables, reflectors, flashlight, siphon, light sticks, emergency blanket and poncho), hats and tshirts.

OK - so the cost of this whole thing??????



FREE!!!!!!

This program is worth hundreds of dollars and it was FREE. I can't say enough for our experience today. DO IT IF YOU CAN!!!!!

Here's the video of my oldest doing the skid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou5ZPNRPaj4