Teens Learn Responsible Driving at Virginia International Raceway

Tola Adamson | Mar 23, 2014 5:37 PM EST | wset.com

Alton, VA-- It's an alarming statistic from the CDC, motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of teen deaths in the country. But, one non-profit organization based in North Carolina has made it their mission to make those numbers go down.
They're called Teen Driving Solutions and they had their first Safe Teen Driver Course of the year at Virginia International Raceway this weekend.

What makes this group different than a regular drivers ed course, is that they focus on more of the street skills that drivers need. Also, everything that teens were learning, their parents were learning too.

Getting a drivers license is something teens always look forward to.

Teen Driving Solutions is hoping to prepare the new drivers for whatever they may encounter on the road.

"We teach them accident or crash avoidance and then if they can't avoid it, teaching them those proper recovery skills," said Chuck Hawks, CEO of Teen Driving Solutions.

The non-profit holds a weekend long Safe Teen Driver Course throughout the year at VIR. They put the teens in real-life dangerous situations.

"You're going to see some cars doing breaking exercises, some cars sliding around, maybe some cars spinning out," said Hawks.

The teens said this is the kind of training that will definitely come in handy.

"He thought it would be a really good idea to learn some defensive driving and handle difficult situations on the road better so, it's just kind of went with it, and it's actually really paid off so far, I really like it, " said Carter Lange, a teen driver.

But it's not only the teens that are getting behind the wheel, the parents are too.

"One of the key things we've learned here as parents is our over confidence because we've been driving for so long that we thing we've got a good handle on it," said Kristen Daukas, a mother.

"The parent factor is important because we can't go home with them so the parents have to go home and be that support structure to make sure that actually both the teens and the parents are holding one another for those safe driving techniques," said Hawks.

The program also included classroom sessions for teens and parents.

They said that also getting to do the course together improved their communication skills, and will help avoid those tense situations that sometimes arise when parents are teaching their kids how to drive.


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