Street Survival Guide

Back to School

When I arrived at the school, I was relieved to find myself surrounded by people in more or less the same situation I was. It started off with a quick classroom session outlining what we’d be doing that day. Students were divided into two groups: one for teens who had just gotten their licenses or even learner’s permits, and another for more experienced drivers.

At 20 years old, I was the oldest person in the class, which put me squarely in the second group. With everyone sorted, it was time for the fun part. My group left the classroom and headed out to our cars for a preliminary check, during which I finally learned how to check my tire pressures– pathetic, I know. After that, we spent an hour on the driving course with a coach.

The first few trips around the course were pretty stressful, and I can only imagine how nervous the younger students felt when they hit cones or skidded off the pavement. But I know that it was worth it. We all learned something important from making and correcting mistakes that cause so many deadly accidents on the road. And once the nerves wore off, it was a blast. Who knew I’d have such a knack for drifting on the wet skidpad?

The most important thing I learned was that, as the classroom instructor emphasized, “losing control of the car” is a myth. As long as your hands are on the wheel, your feet can reach the pedals, and nothing major is broken, you can control the vehicle. It’s just a matter of knowing how. The hands-on experience of maintaining control through swerves, quick lane changes, braking turns, and wet driving surfaces wasn’t just helpful–it was really, really fun.

This course time was the best learning experience a student could ever hope to have in a driving class. However, the classroom session provided a ton of equally valuable background information about how to be as safe as possible on the road. It may not have been as exciting as the time spent driving, but it was just as beneficial.

Comparing it to a public school driver’s education class would be an insult: The instructor made it a priority to not only tell us what to do and what not to do while driving, but also to explain exactly why we should or should not do those things.

Don’t sit too far away from the wheel because that limits your steering and braking abilities in case of an emergency. Don’t let your tire pressure get too low because that changes the footprint and gripping ability of your tire. Don’t lift your foot off the brakes if they start pulsing because that means the ABS is working. Always steer with a pulling motion from the top of the wheel because that uses more fine control muscles in the arm than a pushing motion from the bottom of the wheel.

That’s a lot of rules for a young mind to absorb over the course of an hour or so, but they’re much easier to remember when they’re presented with reasoning that makes sense.

The Bottom Line

It’s been a few weeks since my Street Survival experience. Has this course changed my life? Yes and no.

For me, driving is no longer just a chore I have to complete to get from Point A to Point B. Thankfully, I haven’t needed to use any of the emergency maneuvers I learned in the class, but it’s unbelievably comforting and confidence-inspiring knowing they’re in my skill set.

The most immediate impact of this class, though, has been on those around me. My parents don’t worry quite so much about my driving, and my boyfriend no longer calls every few miles to make sure I’m okay. Even if this class never has the chance to save my life, it will probably save me at least a few trips to the body shop.