Driving Better: We Check Out the Tire Rack Street Survival School

There's no getting around it: We're pretty bad drivers when we first hit the road as teenagers. Most high schools don't offer courses anymore, and some states don't even have formal driver education requirements. In other states, new drivers don't have to undergo training if they reach a certain age. Even those who receive all the necessary training in the classroom and behind the wheel may come out learning little beyond the basic rules of the road, and inexperience usually means we're not prepared for real-life emergency situations. That's where the Tire Rack Street Survival school comes in, teaching students how to handle these scenarios and giving them the opportunity to put their knowledge into practice—in a controlled environment, of course.

"It's not that we're teaching them how to drive," Bill Wade, national program director, told me before I took the course. "We're teaching them how to drive better." He estimates more than half the students have a driver's license.

Tire Rack holds programs all over the country, and I checked out a local course in Fontana, California, to find out how they're preparing students, and to see if I could learn a thing or two myself.

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After we checked our tire pressures, the day started out in a familiar classroom setting, which brought me back to when I was 15 years old. This time, though, I wasn't studying questions that would help me pass the written driver's exam. I was learning information that would help me better react to problems on the road.

It starts with your posture, something I admit I don't remember learning when I was younger. We were taught to sit at least 10 inches between ourselves and the airbag, and position the passenger seat as far back as possible, so the driver can see better to their right. The topics we covered ranged from things I have never encountered, such as hydroplaning, to things that could help you on your daily commute, including dealing with aggressive drivers, the importance of good tires, and the impacts of speeding. One of the most important lessons we put into practice was looking where you wanted to go, not where you currently are. That's hard to do when you're used to sitting in Los Angeles traffic and staring at the bumper of the car in front of you. The friendly instructors were volunteers and autocrossers, and they told me they're like a big family. Their level of expertise became evident through their instruction, and through my improved performance on the driving course in just a few hours.

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We started with the most unnerving exercise first. My instructor told me to press the accelerator to the floor, and when prompted, step on the brakes as hard as I could to a full stop. We also performed a variation of this task: braking and then turning with the brakes still applied until you reach a complete stop. My 2019 Volvo XC60 was up to the task, and I was able to brake hard more smoothly than I thought I could, even on that particular day where it was wet and drizzling.

"A lot of the students have never made their ABS engage…so they've never felt what the pedal feels like under hard braking," Wade said, noting this was one of the trickier maneuvers for students. "We have studies that show if they haven't engaged that and they get into an incident on the street, a lot of times people's natural reaction is to take their foot off of the brake pedal when it starts pulsating when it's in a full engaged ABS mode." Wade points out the majority of first accidents for teenagers typically involve rear-ending someone or hitting an inanimate object since they don't know what it takes to completely stop a car.

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The emergency lane change exercise proved particularly revealing. We were asked to travel quickly down one lane and make a swift lane change when prompted, with very little distance to make the maneuver, as designated by cones. The car responded to my steering input more quickly than I thought it would, and I avoided knocking down any cones, even as speed increased each round. The skidpad was next. Here we were instructed to initiate oversteer and understeer and then correct these problems. When I was a teenager, I had little practical knowledge on these topics.

The last exercise was the slalom. The first few rounds involved weaving in and out of the cones, at up to 30 mph, and then the instructor asked me to simulate the exercise while distracted. While maneuvering through the slalom, I was instructed to play with the radio and fiddle with other controls on the car. Disturbingly, I completed the task both rounds at decent speed without knocking over the cones. But they got their point across: It's a lot more dangerous, because my moves were definitely jerkier and more unpredictable.

At the end of the day, we ran through a long course that incorporated all the maneuvers. By the last run, my skills had improved quite a bit. Not only was I quicker, but I was also more confident and controlled in my movements. Turns out there's always something to learn, even after you've been driving for 13 years.

We don't need to remind you of the stakes. In 2017, 2,734 teens died in car crashes in the U.S. Among 16-19 year olds, the crash rate per mile driven is nearly three times higher than drivers ages 20 and older. The risk is highest for those ages 16-17, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

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The BMW Car Club of America Foundation created the program in 2002 with the purpose of training new drivers, as members felt teenagers were not getting adequate driver education. Over the years, the program has helped 1,100 schools around the country, and Wade said the material hasn't changed too much over the years. But the program is putting a greater focus on distraction. "We are paying a lot more attention to distractions and talking about it, not only in the classroom but also in the car, showing them how difficult it is to talk on a cell phone and still pay attention to what you're doing and reacting appropriately in an emergency situation."

He says they get positive feedback on the course on a weekly basis. My main takeaway? The driver and the car can do much more than you think in an emergency situation. I walked away feeling more confident and more aware of the dangers on the road, whether it be the weather, other drivers, or distractions I create myself. All in just one day.

Costing $95 per person, the program is open to young drivers aged 15-21 with a license or permit. Students bring their own vehicles.

Head over to StreetSurvival.org to learn more about the program.

Photos show a TRSS event at Tire Rack's facility in South Bend, Indiana