Safer... How safe are you as a driver?
Do you know if your vehicle has ABS? Do you know how to properly engage the system? Have you ever experienced the system engaged? At Defensive Driving Academy, each student will learn the feel of their anti-lock brakes (ABS) kicking in as they do accident avoidance braking exercises. They will learn better car control as their tires loose traction on the wet skid pad (below.)
These lessons improve ordinary street and highway driving by giving students a feel for what the car will do in critical situaltions. Learning to handle their cars in unpredictable situations will give drivers the skills that can be applied to even simple emergency situations.
Left: Student drivers navigate cones and react to flagged instructions. The exercise teaches evasive manouvering and emergency braking. Below: Work on the "wet skid pad" teaches how the vechicle feels up to the limits of control and braking in adverse weather.
Working the skid pad is a key technique in many of our programs. Students take their cars to the "limit" (but at slow speeds) on a risk-free 400 ft. by 350 ft. open space. This is where students will work to understand how to control their cars as they "understeer" or "oversteer" around the asphalt slab at increasing speeds.
Defensive Driving Academy students will step beyond a traditional driver training system that emphasizes 'passing a driving test' and the rules of the road. They will learn the techniques needed to be good driver who can handle crisis situations.
It means increasing your control of the driving environment and keeping yourself out of bad driving situations, or, if you find yourself in one, improving your chances of emerging unscathed.
It means being aware of your surroundings and being prepared at all times.
It means concentrating on your driving rather than the distractions we face today.
Safer attitudes develop from experience and knowing what could happen in dicey situations. Genuine experience takes the place of finger-wagging lectures which is why DDA students get a hands on chance to acquire new skills and habits leading to safer attitudes behind the wheel.
