Milwaukee Teen Driver’s Learn To Avoid Car Accidents

Posted by rozeklawoffice on April 19, 2010 under Avoiding Car Accidents, Car Accidents | Be the First to Comment

More than 5,000 teens die in car accidents every year. A fact that inspired the BMW Foundation and Tire Rack to create and sponsor a nationwide program to help teens learn better driving skills. The program is titled Street Survival and is offered annually to 25 Milwaukee teens. The first Milwaukee course was held in 2009.

Street Survival mixes classroom instruction with actual driving lessons. Teens partner with certified program instructors to practice making emergency stops, controlling skidding, and focusing on the road rather than texting or talking on the cell phone.

Classroom instructors are actual local physics teachers and explain to the students the importance of limiting distractions and keeping their eyes on the road. Teens learn that a car traveling 60 mileas an hour can go the distance of a basketball court in 1 second! While many teens view driving as a right, the Street Survival program tries to get these young adults to understand that driving is one of the first major responsibilities of being grown-up.

Preliminary nationwide results with teens that have gone through the program (including those in the 2009 Milwaukee course) indicate that the information taught is making a difference with teen drivers, as seen by the decrease in driving incidents among graduates of the program. Graduate programs such as this have helped to reduce teen car accidents.

The next Milwaukee Street Survival course will be in September 2010. For more information on this program and to access a registration form, simply go to www.streetsurvival.org.

Information obtained from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

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