Maximize Skill, Minimize Risk - A Parental View
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My son Ryan participated in Street Survival in October of 2019. Sort of a natural progression on things with him. He loves to drive, like me. I approached it partly as a cool driving experience. Where else can your kids drive beyond the limitations of the street? Who doesn't like to smash the throttle and brakes?
But street survival is more about safety. Of course, as a parent, I want my kids to drive safely and know how to handle a car in any emergent situation. This class is all about that. I have seen many adults that could use this kind of training in my many years of driving.
My second kid, Lauren, is not a car person. She has been driving now for a couple of years and is not excited about any of it. She just wants to get from here to there...safely. Ahhh, I think to myself, safely! I know just what is needed. I signed her up for the first Street Survival session this year.
We arrived at Family Arena as prepared as we could be. We even reviewed tire pressure the day before. We sat through the first one-hour classroom session. Interesting...she is fully engaged answering the instructors’ questions while many sit and stare at the screen. She soon finds her foil. Another kid is into the material too. They soon begin to compete for the moment to inject the answers. I didn't expect that level of engagement!
The morning classroom session is over and now it is time to drive. I'm wondering how this is going to turn out given the get-from-A-to-B view of it.
My attention is quickly snapped away as I see her instructor meeting us. It is Myles Cramer, our very own region president from 1996!
Later, I asked three questions:
1. What was unforgettable?
Driving figure-eights in the splash zone was crazy, and it got me pretty nauseous after a bit--but it was good practice!
I loved the chance to smash the throttle. It was insane. I felt like an astronaut launching to space.
I never text while driving because even the thought of being unfocused while driving makes me anxious, but watching videos of survivors of collisions caused by distracted driving only solidified that important lesson in me even more.
Speeding gets you nowhere faster. You can only truly shave off minutes from your commute if you are exceeding 60 miles an hour, a mile a minute--which no one should be doing on 40-mile-an-hour roads. It's just mathematical sense. Defying speed limits only increases your chances of being ticketed.
2. What did you learn that you didn't know before?
It is easy to understeer on a hard turn when the ground is wet. Turns out, driving slowly in the rain is actually a safe move!
The whole reason tires are designed with grooves for traction is because of our unpredictable roads and weather. In a perfect world with unchanging temperature, zero precipitation, and level, dry asphalt, we would have cars fitted with perfectly smooth tires the way race cars are.
3. What was your favorite part?
My favorite part was the reverse slalom. It was like eternal parallel parking. I appreciated being able to practice with my rear-view mirrors rather than relying on my car's camera view.
Catering was swell. My classroom instructor was a great speaker, and my driving instructor was patient with me.
My classroom instructor was a great and entertaining speaker with lots of experience. The driving instructor was patient with me and let me improve my skills at my own pace.
At the end of the day, Myles tells me, she did well. Made huge improvements as the day progressed. He also said she entertained him with her never-ending monologue.
I'm thinking, okay, glad we did this. Even though her automotive interests are not on par with her brothers, it is, nevertheless a very valuable experience with lessons and memories to last a full lifetime.
Isn't that what we hope for our kids? To give them the tools to be a success and live a full life.