I just finished watching the 9pm news and saw the coverage of the high school student killed this morning. The reporter said that she lost control of her car and slid into an oncoming car which "T-boned her in the drivers door. She will not see tomorrow morning. When will they start teaching skid control to all of our student drivers. As a former police officer I can't tell you how many times I've investigated and spoke with young drivers that have no idea how to react to a vehicle that is doing something other than going straight down the road. A skid pad and an older city vehicle on an empty school parking lot could save lives. I took my son out last year to the local school parking lot at 7pm after a fresh snowfall and one car on the opposite end of the lot. The Janitor came out and after he could see that I was attempting to school my son on skid control and doing it safely, he called the local police. I was (atleast politely) told to leave or be charged with reckless driving. Go figure!!!
They will do this the same day the state pushes people to have equipment on their car that is suitable for the conditions. It's a sad fact that the state will not take responsibility to pass laws to protect citizens from themselves or others in poor conditions. Canada enforces snow tires in winter
"sliding" in the snow was the first thing my dad showed me in the winter using his truck in 2wd during a snow storm. Drivers ed programs would probably never approach the subject due to "liability" and the fact that it would be considered illegal lol.
People that practices skid control in open parking lots always get harassed by cops. And may even get cited for reckless driving. I remember the news even said to go out and practice losing control of your car in a open lot. There was even an Officer on during the article to go and practice in an open lot.
It's amazing how Lawyers have managed to screw up almost everything in America. Here is one option that would be a perfect training tool.
Most parents don't know how to themselves, so they can't teach their kids anything but drive straight
My driver's ed teacher taught me how to slide in the snow and recover. We were driving down a residential street and he ripped the e-brake on me...into the snow bank I went (and he had to push me out ) Yea, I learned my lesson. I'm really sorry to hear about the teenage death though..sometimes all the training in the world doesn't help due to unexpected situations and other drivers.
i learned in parking lots, and open fields up north too. I know not everyone has that option, but not knowing what to do when you get put in to that situation is the worst feeling ever. I feel there should be an awareness to this in drivers ed schools in all areas effected by winter every year. Having this knowledge could save your life.
Most drivers are clueless when it comes to any evasive manuvers. One trip into the snowbank is not going to teach you one single thing about driving in low traction situations. There is only one thing, PRACTICE, PRACTICE PRATICE. Granted there is always the other driver but if that other driver had gotten some supervised skid time and practiced he wouldn't be a factor.
Guess I should've put an LOL in there somewhere, sorry. Here is an accurate depiction of my EX behind the wheel , moments before the impact, she does have the brake pedal pushed through the floor however!
My dad took me into a parking lot to learn how to pull out of a spin (or bare minimum stop a spin without hitting anything) when i was learning to drive. take a F-150 with bald tires and no sandbags and whip around a parking lot for a few hours. I hate to support vehicle mandates from the government but requiring snow tires or allowing studded tires would probably be a good idea.
I learned myself by drifting through the residential streets of Andover back in the early 90's in a 1984 GMC 2WD truck. Come to think of it, I think my friends and I invented drifting!
I learned all my driving including winter and rally from playing GTA & GT5, now if only Drivers Ed programs were this much fun everyone would be lining up to take them.
I learned mine from fnf movies. What're kids going to do now? Will someone think of the kids? Its too bad there aren't things like car control clinics and winter teen driving schools available for people to attend
There are plenty of car clubs that put on winter school's but for some dumb reason parents are reluctant to send their kids unless they receive a discount from their auto insurance. 2F2F taught me to not use the NOS too early junior
Every year our Autocross club tries to put on a Teen Driving School at DCTC. The teens are provided with basic technics and they also have access to the skid pad on site to help them practice recovery. I wish we did a better job of advertising this so more people could take advantage.
"Other people" are the reason I am so paranoid in bad driving conditions. I have proper equipment (everyone I talk to looks at me like I am nuts when I tell them both of our all wheel drive vehicles have snow tires) and decades of winter driving experience, so my driving isn't what scares me. Call me racist, but there are too many people from parts of the globe that are here for their first taste of snow and driving some sh!t box that should have seen the crusher years ago. Vehicle inspections for proper equipment (working lights, tire tread depth, etc) would have served the motoring public much better than mandatory emissions testing did years ago. I learned my winter drivng "skills" with dad's rear wheel drive Mercury Montego in a small town. No ABS, no traction control, and the threat of a whipping if the car came back bent, and you make sure you become proficient. Since I now work at 6:00 AM, I try to get is a little oversteer practice now and again (only where safe with good sightlines) before the streets start to get clogged people texting and paying more attention to their lattes than they do to their driving. Obviously the janitor and the officer from the OP's story were not residents of Gumption County. Sympathies to the relatives of the young lady who died way too soon. Hopefully others will learn from this tragedy. And...when it is slippery, please slow down and pay attention to the task at hand. There is no place you are going that is so important to risk your life (and the lives of others) by driving too fast for conditions. And the general public and most car enthusiasts are not impressed with your mad rally skillz when traffic is heavy and road conditions are bad.
BMW Teen Winter Driving Program Jan 18, 2014 and the best part is it's affordable. http://streetsurvival.org/school-schedule-registration/
Best part of that video, everyone that spins out has the brakes just locked up. Brake lights never turn off until they hit something and stop. Probably just like the driver ed teacher taught them, when in doubt, mash the brake pedal. Russ
My friends and I learned skid control and drifting years ago. We would go ice fishing and if the fish weren't biting we would hone our skills on the frozen lakes. I taught my two boys to drive in extreme conditions before they got their licenses. We would take my CJ5 (V8 with mud tires) out to the gravel pits and mud bogs. I installed a throttle so I could operate the gas for the youngest son as he couldn't reach the pedals when he was seated. Never had an accident and it was a blast for them. I sold it before they got their licenses as the Jeep CJ was a hand full on slick roads in the winter.
took my drivers ed in the winter. my teacher was a chilled dude. taught us skid control in the school parking lot. condolence to the family of the teen.
My brother rolled his truck on the first snow of november. less than an inch on the ground. I need to take him out and show him what's going on.
There was a guy that owned a private driver's ed school that used to take the kids out in old golf carts with bald tires on a wet/soapy parking lot and teach them skid control. The state told him that was an unacceptable part of the program and he needed to discontinue it or they would pull his license. So that's where the state stands on driver's training. My kids went through drivers ed about 5 years ago and the classroom instruction was a pathetic waste of time. They had a good behind the wheel instructor but you can only learn so much in 3 hours on public roads. I took cones out to the high school parking lot and set up accident avoidance drills, braking drills, etc. Never got the cops called on me. Its not a bad idea for experienced drivers as well.
