Car crashes are the number-one killer of teens in America. According to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), each year, more than 5,000 youths ages 15 – 20 are involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes, and in 2011, 180,000 teens were injured and 2,000 teen drivers were killed nationwide, mainly due to driver error.
To reduce that number, the non-profit Tire Rack Street Survival® driver education program will be coming to Mossville Caterpillar Building AC (located at Illinois 29 and Rench Road) on June 22nd and June 23rd 2019. The class runs from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and is open to permitted and licensed drivers ages 15 – 21. Registration forms can be found online at www.streetsurvival.org. The cost is $95 per student and some insurance companies offer premium discounts to graduates.
Registration for this event ends Friday the 21st at 4pm.
Tire Rack Street Survival is a national driver education program aimed at teaching teens the skills they need to stay alive behind the wheel. Unlike traditional high school driver’s education programs based on classroom theory and simple maneuvers, the Tire Rack Street Survival program improves driver competence through hands-on experiences in real-world driving situations. Teenagers learn from knowledgeable enthusiasts driving coaches how their actions govern a car’s responses, what the limits of their vehicles are and how to avoid accidents entirely. Unlike other advanced driving schools, students use their own vehicles so the skills they learn can be directly translated to their own daily driving experiences.
The program’s value has even caught the attention of veteran IndyCar driver Scott Goodyear. When the time came to prepare his teenage son to drive, Goodyear enrolled him in a Tire Rack Street Survival course near their hometown of Carmel, Indiana. “I firmly believe Tire Rack Street Survival is the best program in giving young drivers valuable experience behind the wheel,” he said. Shortly after completing the program, Scott’s son avoided an accident using an accident-avoidance maneuver he learned during the program.
“Despite more teens dying in car crashes than by drugs or violence, driver’s ed is still a low priority among most schools and parents,” said Bill Wade, National Program Manager, Tire Rack Street Survival. “Handing the keys to an improperly trained driver endangers not only the teens but others on the road as well. Tire Rack Street Survival’s goal is to prepare young drivers for the hazards they will face on the road and how to deal with them in a safe, effective manner.”
“As members of this community, many of us have teenagers who are just beginning, what we hope, will be a long life as a safe driver,” said Rick Largen], Tire Rack Street Survival regional organizer. “That’s why we’ve volunteered to bring this program to [the Peoria area, in order to reduce the number of deaths that result from teenage driving fatalities.”
