Video all teenage drivers should watch before driving

wearing seat belts

seat belts

I was a better driver at 17 than most period. Granted a lot had to do with my backround.

What I don't understand is how we teach our kids.

I am a private pilot, the training you go through to get that license is real. In drivers ed, they tell you (maybe once) how to correct a slide or what to do if you brakes fail, but never any real world experience.

The first time I was learning how to recover from a stall, I freaked out. I know what to do, but I panicked. After help from the instructor and some real world training I figured it out. Simply telling kids to turn into a slide isn't good enough IMO.

I understand a lot these accidents are cause by speed and/or alcohol. But normal kids have no real understanding how to handle an out of control vehicle. Until they get used to it, they never will.

^^^^^^^^^
I agree 100%.

People are taught how to handle normal driving but almost anyone can do that. They never teach how to drive in rain, ice, snow or when the car is out of control.

They need to take kids to a large empty parking lot where people with driving experience can wear the proper safety gear, with medical personnal on hand to show them how to correct mistakes. Now I'm not talking about sliding corners at 60 MPH, I'm just saying some fairly low speed stuff to give them an idea. There is very little chance of being hurt during a 30 MPH slide with the car in the hands of a professional driver. A common mistake is to yank the steering wheel back towards the road when the driver drifts off the road, this is the absolute WORST thing you can do, but people don't realize it because they don't have any experience in that situation. You are much better off driving with a couple wheels just off the road and slowly turning back onto the road vs. jerking the wheel.

I have ridden street bikes, dirt bikes, ATV's, snowmobiles, etc. quite a bit in my life so I probably don't get "scared" as much as someone else when I get into those situations, riding recreational vehicles has definitely made me a better driver.

Another thing that everyone needs to do(not just teenage drivers), is sit in the seat of a semi-truck and experience first hand what the semi driver sees. I can't tell you how many times I see drivers along side a semi for much longer than they should be, or just plain getting too close.