2009 Tire Rack Street Survival Program

by Dave Ortoli

It was a cool but sunny morning as the band of hardy volunteers began arriving at Rentschler Field in East Hartford on October 11 to start setting up for the third Tire Rack Street Survival program run by our CT Valley Chapter. Street Survival (www.streetsurvival.org) is a national program which aims to provide teenage drivers with the skills needed to handle real life driving emergencies. They were soon followed by 21 recently licensed drivers, who arrived with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

After registration, the first order of business for the students was to meet their instructor, and then perform a safety inspection of their vehicle. The vehicles ranged from Honda Civics to a Chevy Tahoe, with an M3 thrown into the mix. After getting their hunger taken care of with a breakfast generously donated by Dunkin Donuts, the group split into two to start the day’s activities.

Each group rotated thru classroom discussions, safety demonstrations, and a series of driving exercises. The classroom covered the important areas such as proper seating and vision, the tire contact patch, and vehicle weight transfer, giving the students the building blocks they would later use in the driving activities.

The safety demonstrations covered a wide spectrum of topics. After they saw (and heard!) the explosive power of an airbag going off, the students got to experience what it felt like to be in a 5 mph impact and how abruptly the seat belt stopped them, courtesy of the CT State Police “Convincer”. The final demonstration started with an excellent talk by UPS safety expert Al Spranzo about safely sharing the roads with large trucks. Each student, and many parents, then climbed up into the cab of the UPS truck to see all of the blind spots around the tractor trailer.

But the obvious critical part of the program is the driving exercises. Coached by an awesome group of caring, knowledgeable and (most important) patient instructors, the students progressed thru six different activities. Starting with a simple straight ahead emergency stop, the drivers progressed thru braking while turning, a slalom course, a lane change maneuver, and a wet skid pad. Finally, they had a chance to put everything they learned to use driving a multi-faceted handling course. You could see the confidence building in the students over the course of the day, as they safely explored their vehicle’s limits.

Everyone went back to the classroom area to finish off the over abundance of lunch from Pizza Hut, have a wrap up discussion, and receive their course completion certificates. Although it was a long day for everyone involved, at the end of it there was a group of drivers who were better prepared for any emergencies that might happen to them while driving.

As always for any event of like this, it wouldn’t be successful without the hard work of many people – the instructors, the volunteer workers, and the supportive parents. We also want to thank Dunkin Donuts, Pizza Hut, UPS, the CT State Police and BMW of Bridgeport for their support and assistance. There already is interest in next year’s program which is in the early planning stage. Contact Dave Ortoli if you know of a possible location or want to work in any capacity.