Street Survival School

Has anyone here been to one of the Street Survival Schools sponsored by Tire Rack?  http://streetsurvival.org/

My wife has some anxiety when driving or being the passenger in tight traffic or fast paced traffic on highways near major cities.   She has been hit a few times in the past and is deathly afraid of it happening again.  Her driving isn't very bad, she just doesn't have trust in other drivers around her.  Would a street survival course be something that could help?  I get the feeling it is more geared toward teen drivers with little driving experience, but I'm trying to find a way to boost her confidence level.    

If the school allows her as a pupil, it might help. The one I used to instruct at from time to time had a cut off at (I think) around 18 years of age.

Keep in mind that it's mostly about teaching car control, which may not be an issue if your wife is the hittee rather than the hitter. But it should help build confidence either way.

One thing that really helped my wife's confidence as a driver was a two-day introductory HPDE driving school at Bondurant.

I've instructed at Street Survival schools. They could give her more confidence in how to react and understanding the vehicle's limits if/when something does go wrong. Having that preparation in the back of her mind may or may not help with the specific fear you're describing.

I put my boy through one. Good value for money. He says he learned a great deal in that one session that didn't get covered in driver ed at all, and that a lot of it was aimed at reducing anxiety by increasing confidence in car control. 

This is too small a sample size to be scientific but here's my experience.  

My son did Street Survival 18 years ago. He's owned a variety of cars ranging from a lifted Jeep CJ to an e28 M5 & has never been in an accident.

One nephew did SS around 15 years ago & has had no accidents.

The other 3 nephews haven't done SS & all have had more than 1 collision/accident each.

  I believe that BoxheadTim is correct about  the age cut off. 

There is a version for adults, but dates are much much less frequent than the teen one. 

Duke said:

There is a version for adults, but dates are much much less frequent than the teen one. 

And in this part of the world, the teen schools are infrequent.

Thanks for the suggestions.  I didn't know there was an adult version of the course, does it go by the same name?

Def not the streets I was thinking

I'm an instructor for Street Survival and don't know how many times I've been asked about courses for adults.  My understanding is that if there is room, a sponsor may allow an adult to participate.  My job has mandatory drivers safety classes and I've learned a lot from autocross, but that's all I have for adults.  I'm not sure how any of them would prevent someone from hitting me, other than better situational awareness and keeping a buffer around me.

I made my daughter take the class before I would let her drive alone. 

She did not want to do.  Until about an hour into the class and she suddenly realized it is fun skidding her car around on soapy water.

 4 years later no accidents.  I can't say the same for speeding tickets, she is paying off a big one right now.

I instructed one but I learned I cannot instruct one in a soft SUV. Ooof.... talk about car sick! As for the OP's question I got nothing.

I way prefer Doug Herbert's BRAKES program for teen instruction because it is more comprehensive and you aren't using your own car to do things like skid control. I really wouldn't want to teach skid control in a Wrangler, for example. Plus BRAKES uses Easy Drift plastic tires which are buckets of fun.

But, not for adults. I think doing some adult classes would be a good fund raiser for the teen schools but nobody asks me, so...

As a HPDE instructor I wouldn't be opposed to a student coming to learn what I'd term 'confidence' vs lapping a track faster. I think the two mindsets can co-mingle and I vastly prefer teaching real beginners vs folks with a few lapping days under their belt simply because the advancement in skill and confidence is so noticeable. Just make it clear to your instructor what you are there to learn and we can cater to that.

ddavidv said:

I way prefer Doug Herbert's BRAKES program for teen instruction because it is more comprehensive and you aren't using your own car to do things like skid control. I really wouldn't want to teach skid control in a Wrangler, for example. Plus BRAKES uses Easy Drift plastic tires which are buckets of fun.

But the whole point of Street Survival is that the student is supposed to learn in the car they will be driving or one much like it, so they understand how their car will behave when the chips are down.