Greetings,
I saw this article and thought I might pipe in here and tell you about a similar program that is also available.
Street Survival was formed in April 2002 by the BMW Car Club of America Foundation, a 501c3 organization. Street Survival® is built upon the premise that 'safe driving is learned by doing.' From the outset, Street Survival® has always been a "hands on" program and it is designed to go beyond the typical high school driver's education program. The program teaches students to avoid accidents by thinking and looking ahead. Street Survival® is unique in that it offers students instruction in their own cars so that they learn the limitations of their 'daily drivers' and that information is transferred immediately to what they drive everyday, whether it’s a new Accord, pick-up truck, 5 year old Minivan, or the hand-me –down 15 year old Volvo station wagon. If you haven’t, please check out our website at www.streetsurvival.org.
As a point of background, 2003 was the pilot year for Street Survival® and several successful schools were held around the country. In 2004, more than a dozen schools providing instruction for several hundred students were held.
The year 2005 had 18 successful schools across the country. 2006 saw even more schools, training even more teenagers to become safe, responsible drivers. Our goal that year was 40 schools and we hit 36. More than double our previous efforts. The Tire Rack signed on as our title sponsor in 2006 and has opened the doors to many more clubs and events. You can visit the Tire Rack at www.tirerack.com. The Sports Car Club of America is now facilitating schools under the Tire Rack Street Survival® banner. You can visit the SCCA at www.scca.org. We are discussing the program with additional car clubs such as the Porsche, Audi and Mercedes Benz Clubs. We know to expand this program as far as it can go we need to grow outside of just the BMW Club ranks.
We completed 56 schools in 2007 breaking our goal of 50. We have slated over 75 schools this year.
The schools are facilitated by chapters of the BMW Car Club of America and other car clubs where a trained instructor base can be utilized. The instructor to student ratio is quite low, often 2:1. They are held typically in a large parking lot, such as a football stadium or large mall. The schools are 1 day, typically from 8:00am to 4:00pm. The cost is $60. We average 25 students per school with our largest school holding 48 students every year for the last 3 years. There are usually 15-20 instructors in attendance, 5 -10 staff people and probably 20 parents and other adults.

The day is a mixture of classroom and in-car exercises with a coach in the car at all times with the student. The student is put though a collection of exercises based on real world scenarios. They work on skid control on a wet skid pad; go through a lane change / accident avoidance maneuvers; threshold breaking / ABS exercises; they drive a slalom course to learn about weight transfer. In the classroom they learn about proper seating position and hand positions, mirror placement, the concept of the contact patch of their tires, the theories of weight transfer, the use of long distance vision and situational awareness. We talk about the challenges of distractions to the driver, be it the radio / CD player or phones for talking or texting or just the simple cause of too many teens in the car. Where possible we stage a semi truck on site and park cars around it to simulate highway driving. We then have each student and all adults get into the cab and close the door to show how little the driver can see and how many of the cars are not visible to the driver. We also may explode an air bag to reinforce what they learn in class about hand placement on the steering wheel.
I’d love to discuss this with you further at your convenience. Just let me know when a good time to follow up is.
Most of us are aware of the carnage that occurs on American highways and good driver education will help reduce accidents. With your support and help, the goal of the Tire Rack Street Survival® program will help make our teenager’s safer drivers and our roads a safer place to be for all of us.

Thank you,

Bill Wade
National Program Manager
Tire Rack Street Survival®
bill.wade@streetsurvival.org
www.streetsurvival.org