East Longmeadow hosted several highly successful Car Control Clinic in the parking lot of the High School in 2009 and have two planned for this summer, July 10 and August 7, 2010. The events offered hands-on driving experience for drivers to learn more about how to control their cars in the event of emergencies. The events featured both classroom sessions as well as some spectacular driving exercises in the parking lot. The North Atlantic Audi Club (NAAC) who organized the events and provided instructors for the events as well as classroom content is a 501c3 organization that conducts similar events all over the North East. Please register for the July event if you’d like to attend; registration for the August clinic will open soon.
These events typically attract 20 plus students, both teens and adults. Students use their own cars on a series of exercises over the course of the day. NAAC Past President Mike Kelly commented on the need for students to drive their own cars saying “we encourage people to use their own cars rather than have us provide a vehicle for them. This has two advantages; first, it dramatically reduces the cost to the student and second, the student gets to experiment and then understand how their car will react in a variety of situations. Our experience has been that students get far more benefit from an event when they use their own car. In fact, NAAC requires students to use their own cars across the full range of driver events they organize – from winter driving courses near the Canadian border in January and March to their High Performance Driver Education at the New Hampshire International Speedway, this year on June 2 and 3rd."
Parents, students and onlookers were shocked at the improvement in driving through just an hour or so, of practice at each exercise. Students learned what caused various types of skid and how to control each one. This was not just the usual simple stuff of ‘steer into the skid’ but learning what causes the skid as well as how the car can be steered through a skid just using the throttle to either induce or stop skidding. Other exercises included slalom where car and drivers struggled to get in and out of the course quickly, without skidding or losing control. This simulates sudden changing of direction or lanes on the highway and event organizer Douglas Cowieson explained this is the area where most people struggle. “Most students think they have an idea how to control the car in the type of situations we create, but the reality is we almost never see anyone get this right without help. The same is true of the skid pad. Most people know in theory what to do in a skid but very few can control the car into and through a skid. That’s why these clinics are so good for everyone – the exercises we use demonstrate what to do in everyday events such as avoiding something in the road, changing lanes suddenly, controlling a skid. Understanding what causes a skid helps you understand when it is about to happen and as a result make changes that will control it and allow you to move on without a fuss”. As the High School Resource Officer Don Cavanaugh said “this is all life saving stuff, everyone should learn it and this is great way to start learning”. “It was great to see the students go from being nervous and timid, to confident and safe drivers in the matter of a few hours, what an excellent experience”.
Christine Skiffington, who heads the Brianna Foundation, said, “I wish I knew about this for Brianna, we hadn’t even heard of it until it was too late”.
Jim Driscoll, who watched the event from start to finish, commented, “this is exactly what the town needs, for our new drivers especially. To get this kind of practice and instruction is invaluable and will save lives”. He finished by saying “I heard one parent say this should be mandatory for all new drivers and not just an extra – I think I might look into that for the future.”
