This post is a off-topic as it’s not about editing and post-production; it’s about B.R.A.K.E.S. Driving School, which is highly recommended if you have a new or teen driver in your family. As a long-time car guy, I was able to attend Skip Barber High Performance Driving School many years ago, and it was one of the most confidence-building driving experiences I’ve ever had (in addition to being the most fun). Being able to drive a car near the limit, experiencing emergency lane changing, anti-lock and threshold braking, skid control, and accident avoidance in a car is a game changer for the driver. To be able to experience this type of thing in a car, you need to be in a controlled environment with instructors. Most drivers will never know what it feels like to have a car in a skid, (much less have some experience trying to recover from that skid) until it actually happens. All you ever hear in driving school is “steer into the skid.” Still, until you experience a skid, understand CPR (correct, pause recover) and looking where you want the car to go, you can’t be reasonably confident you can recover from one.

I happened to see an ad on Facebook for Doug Herbert’s B.R.A.K.E.S (Be Responsible and Keep Everyone Safe) Teen Pro-Active Driving school recently, and out of curiosity, I clicked over because I don’t often click on Facebook ads. To my surprise, I saw a structured teen driving school that traveled around the country, providing teens with three hours of driving instruction that included about two hours + in the car. Even more surprising was that the cost of attending BRAKES Driving School was free. There was a $99 fee to reserve a spot, but you could get it back when the school was over. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, I can’t fathom why anyone would ask for their money back because what your teen is learning could save their life.

What’s included for your teen in the curriculum?

• Distracted Driving Awareness
• Panic Braking
• Crash Avoidance
• Car Control/Skid Recovery
• Drop-wheel/Off-road Recovery
• Proper seat and mirror placement, proper use of seatbelts, eye scanning
• Big Rig Safety
• What to do during a Traffic Stop and more

That is a lot crammed into three hours. Those are many things your local school’s driving instruction does not touch on. And while your community may have private driving instruction (such as mine), that’s often too expensive for many people to participate in. While most private driving instruction does include classroom and behind-the-wheel time, it does not include things like car control, skid recovery, panic braking, etc.

Our BRAKES course was held at the Nashville Super Speedway. When I told my teen we were going there for driving school, his eyes lit up as big as I’ve ever seen. However, I had to temper his expectations by letting him know that the course was held in the giant parking lots and not on the race track itself.

KIA sponsors the B.R.A.K.E.S. school, and there were KIAs everywhere – from KIA Souls for skid control to new Kia K4s for accident avoidance, panic braking and other in-car activities; an EV6, EV9, and Telluride for parents to drive, as well as a KIA Carnival that was shuttling people around. This is no small investment from KIA, as these cars are getting driven hard, but I can’t think of a more important endeavor for a corporation to participate in. So thanks, KIA, for saving lives.

What makes those KIA Souls so easy to skid? It’s in the tires, a special slick tire is installed on the rear wheels of the KIA Souls making them easy to skid but also recoverable.

There is also something in this for parents. Parents are required to stay on-site during the class, and while the teens are out on their own with driving instructors doing all the things listed above, parents are able to participate in their own little driving course. at our class, this included a course setup for Premaand and vehicle dynamics as well as demonstrations of how anti-lock brakes work. That included hard braking maneuvers where you engage the ABS and steer the car away from an obstacle. I was able to do this course in both a KIA EV6 and a KIA Telluride SUV, so it was great to feel the different dynamics of these two very different vehicles. It was also interesting to see how other parents drive. As one who enjoys high-performance driving, I took the course quite fast. But I was somewhat surprised by one of the parents in the SUV who is an incredibly timid driver and drove the course at a very low speed. I think she very much appreciated the opportunity because it’s driving a vehicle and feeling vehicle dynamics in a way she had never experienced before.

The BRAKES program was born out of tragedy. Click over and read the story of how professional drag racer, Doug Herbert, came to create the BRAKES program. It’s a heartbreaking story, but as the father of two teens, I can’t think of a better way to remember these kids than to have such a training program for other teens.

If you want to know more, click over to the FAQ. If you do have a teen driver, click over to the schedule and see if BRAKES is coming to your area. If it’s not coming anywhere within driving distance, perhaps you could bring it to your area. I believe it’s worth a couple of hours’ drive just to get your team behind the wheel learning things they will most likely not learn anywhere else. Driving an automobile is one of the most dangerous things that we do. It’s even more dangerous for teens. Just watch how often you see other people looking down at their phones while driving around you. It’s a wonder we don’t have more accidents than we do. A program like BRAKES can give your team an advantage when they get out there on the road.

What was my teen’s favorite (and most surprising) part of the BRAKES Teen Pro-Active Driving School? I thought for sure he would say the skid control. It was actually the “drunk goggles”.

I was happy we attended this program, especially on this rainy Saturday, because this is what we drove through on the way home :

He did very well, and he made it home safely.

If you made it this far, thanks for indulging my off-topic post. I hope that perhaps you can take your teen driver through this same program.