With temperatures pushing a sweltering 90 degrees Tuesday, the parking lot of Consol Energy Park in North Franklin was full of squealing tires, burning rubber and excited teenagers learning new driving skills.
Hosted by the Governors Highway Safety Association and Ford Motor Co., hundreds of teenagers participated last week in "Driving Skills for Life," a free safe-driving program.
Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette
Ashley Lowe, 17, of Collier, drives a Ford Mustang Tuesday during a simulated skid as part of a "Driving Skills for Life" program at Consol Energy Park in North Franklin. More than 600 students from local high schools participated in the free hands-on safe-driving course. Instructors inside the cars tutored the students on the best way to steer the vehicle in skids that could be caused by black ice, gravel or snow.
Jonathon Adkins talks about the advantages of the Driving Skills for Life program.
Designed primarily as a Web-based program for teens, Driving Skills for Life hosts several one-day ride-and-drive events throughout the country, and one three-day summer day camp each year.
This year, Consol Energy Park hosted the day camp, which included about 500 students from nine states, with local sponsors KDKA-TV, Westfield Insurance and the state Department of Transportation.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, vehicle crashes remain the No. 1 killer of teenagers in America, including 214 in Pennsylvania in 2005.
"When you lose 5,000 teenagers a year, that's bad," said Jonathon Adkins, communications director for the GHSA. "Those are preventable deaths."
The program got a good response and spaces filled quickly because the event is aimed at grabbing the attention of teenagers.
It featured five challenging ride and drive courses taught by race car drivers, specially equipped new Ford Mustangs, visits with local television personalities, and former Pittsburgh Steelers Tunch Ilkin and Craig Wolfley, who came as motivational speakers.
"You have to talk to kids in a language they'll understand," Mr. Adkins said.
While the program is not meant as a replacement for driver's education courses, it recognizes that many such courses are being eliminated from school budgets. Developed in 2003, the program aims to supplement driver's ed, and to teach more specialized skills to recently licensed drivers.
For example, in the skid portion of the course, students drive cars that have been equipped to lose rear traction control easily. Instructors inside the cars tutor the students on the best way to steer the vehicle and handle skids that can be caused by black ice, gravel or snow.
"It was better than I expected," said Ashley Lowe, 17, of Collier, Allegheny County, about the skid course. "I think I did pretty good. I got it down."
Ashley, who has had her driver's license since November, said she had had an experience skidding on light snow and was glad to get some valuable training. She was one of about 100 mostly southwestern Pennsylvania teens who participated in the first day of the program Tuesday.
While students awaited their turn at stations, they received tips from other race car drivers, including Tanya Bourbonnais of Montreal, Canada.
"It's amazing," she said, "how many accidents could be prevented by just looking at the right spot."
Ms. Bourbonnais recommends keeping your eye on where you want to be on the road, not on another driver, a ditch or another distraction.
Chief instructor Randy Bleicher designed the course, which included 18 instructors, and said he hears from parents and students from across the country who have attended the Driving Skills program, and who have said it made a difference in their lives.
Gabe Costa, 18, of South Park Township, said he attended because his mother wanted him to, but found the courses exciting and helpful.
His mother, Monica Blum, said her son was learning things that he couldn't find in a text book.
"You can't learn this without being in the moment," she said. "This is something that should be offered in high schools."
At a speed and space management course, students maneuvered through a serpentine course without using brakes. Trainer Jim Bishop, of Fresno, Calif., said the idea was to remind students that they probably will not have enough time to use brakes in a sudden accident. They learned to look ahead and control a car by using steering and gas alone.
Other courses featured hazard recognition and distraction driving, in which students had to try to drive a circular course with the radio on, while talking on a cell phone and trying to open a bottle of water.
"I was trying to drive with half a hand," said Zach Rudmand, 17, of Canton, a senior at Trinity High School, who promised never to try to replicate conditions on the course.
Trinity no longer offers driver's education courses, so Zach said he learned to drive from his parents. They did a good job, he said, but he was glad for the extra training.
Students who took the course won't be eligible for insurance discounts, due to different laws in each state. Each of those who participated received a photo of him- or herself with a Mustang, a pewter frame, free music downloads, and four tickets to a Washington Wild Things baseball game.
Mr. Adkins said he was pleased to see so many parents at the event.
"You've got to get the parents involved," he said. "This is not a cancer. It's not a disease. We know the cure."
First Published: June 29, 2007, 10:45 a.m.