This is why I like weekends, especially if I’m at a Tire Rack Street Survival school.
A grateful mom called the Street Survival office this week to comment on the education her daughter received at a Tire Rack Street Survival school last summer in St. Louis. She asked that someone call her back that day, because she wanted to talk about an incident in which her daughter was involved. The mom reported that her daughter was safe and in good health after avoiding a possible high-speed crash because of the training she received from the volunteer coaches at the school.
I felt lucky that day because I was the fortunate one who made the call back to this mom to hear her account of the crash and accept her thanks on behalf of the Tire Rack Street Survival program. Here is the story from her.
"Our Street Survival student was driving on the interstate, keeping a reasonable distance from two other cars in the same lane. She was in the middle, between the other two cars. The driver of the first car slammed on the brakes for no-good reason. She saw what was happening—because she was looking ahead as she learned at Street Survival.
She was braking heavily with the anti-lock working and was about to stop in time when the car behind her, driven by a teenage boy, slammed into her car at speed. Our student saw it coming—again, because she was looking 360 degrees as she had learned—braced herself against the seatback and headrest, and turned the wheel a bit to miss the car in front since she was about to be pushed forward from the rear impact.
The car in front sustained minor bumper damage. Our student’s car was totaled from the rear impact, but she walked away from the crash, while the teen in the rear vehicle had to be cut out of his car. "
The mom's daughter credits the Tire Rack Street Survival program with the great outcome of this incident and now wants to do a Street Survival school again this year to learn more and feel confident with her new car. By this time, I was as emotional as the mom said she was going to be at the start of the call.
After telling me the story, she asked that I promise to contact the St. Louis organizers who conducted her daughter’s school and pass her thanks and admiration. She has offered to do whatever—and talk to whomever—to extol the virtues of the program. The mom has talked briefly with the school principal where her daughter attends, and he is also interested in the program.
Our local organizations in the St. Louis area are the St. Louis Chapter of the BMW CCA and the St. Louis Region of the SCCA. These groups typically hold four Tire Rack Street Survival schools each year between them, using many of the same coaches and staff. They have trained a lot of teens over the years and this is just one of the success stories we hear from graduates and parents of graduates of the more than 100 Street Survival schools held each year across the country.
Tire Rack Street Survival—it really does save lives and is the best thing we do as a club.—Tim Beechuk
To register your teen driver in a Tire Rack Street Survival school, visit streetsurvival.org.
