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 The
New Driver Car Control Clinic is hands-on, in-car training that consists of a 120-minute
discussion of vehicle dynamics and human dynamics followed by four hours of in-car
instruction in accident avoidance and defensive driving maneuvers.
A major, distinguishing difference is that we do not accept a young driver without
a parent. Parents may not just ship us their kids and expect a finished product
in return. We believe that to be successful, the driver must share information and
experience with an adult guide to the future during and after the Clinic experience.
We call them coaches.
Each Parent/Teen team receives the 56-page work-book, New Driver Car Control: From
Kamikaze to Competent, and the 45-minute video detailing all the exercises
so that they can practice-and continue to share-on their own.
We train parents and teens in the same process as followed for all psychomotor skill--
athletic skills --development. We begin with an understanding of the psychology
and physics of crashes, vehicle dynamics, human responses and the likely outcomes
of failure.
Then, in the four hour in-car training session we develop the use of the eyes for
early warning and for
solution
searches. We re-program the use of the steering wheel from its typically limited
use in crash conditions to its full use. We move on to the early, powerful and effective
use of the brake system on their car. All research on this issue concludes (and
we see the concrete evidence in our Clinics) that young drivers are not taught and
therefore cannot effectively use their brakes in their early crash experiences.
The session ends with an accident avoidance maneuver test to see how well they have
assimilated the system and techniques and can respond to the ultimate pressure,
“Oh no, I’m going to hit it!
Our experience indicates that these four hours are the longest continuous driving
session these drivers have ever experienced under any circumstances. It is a combination
of tight space, slow speed, deep focus followed by higher speed, quick response
exercises which stretch their awareness and understanding of the “real world” they
face. What before may have been just “surviving” in the traffic stream, they now
are managing themselves and their vehicle—expressing car control.
Click on the city listed in the navigation column to the right for current
schedules.
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