Читать книгу Go Play In the Traffic! - Lenet Compton - Страница 5

Let’s start at the beginning. Having pre-license driving experience was invaluable when I went through Driver’s Education. Instructors immediately sensed I had “done this before.” While the other kids were learning techniques, I was simply getting more behind-the-wheel time.

My belief is that kids gain valuable confidence with supervised, pre-license driving whether that driving is on a tractor, dirt bike, car, truck or off-road vehicle.

Having confidence is not the same as being cocky. Confidence with finesse requires humility. You won’t be perfect just because you are confident but you have a better chance of staying alive because you are aware.

As instructors at Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving remind drivers, there are only four tire patches connecting you to the road. Four patches approximately 6”x7” isn’t much. Confidence not only requires humility, it also requires you to be present in the moment with all your senses (ok – you can leave taste at home). Use your senses so those four little patches have a better chance of providing the most appropriate response.

Never lend your car to anyone to whom you have given birth. - Erma Bombeck

Here are my top pre-license stories beyond the standard parking lot and back--road excursions:

•I backed my father’s mid-life-crisis-mobile (flame-orange Camaro™) into the corner of the house while he was watching. It looked so easy when he backed down the driveway!

•A family vacation took us to Alaska. It was then that my parents “insisted” I drive two miles on the Alaska Highway so I could say I had driven it. They didn’t have to twist my arm.

•Dad let me drive a friend’s Jaguar XKE™ around the block when the car was stored at our house.

•My family took a two-car vacation with my aunt and uncle in the other car. Dad pulled over and told me to drive (broad daylight, interstate highway, moderate traffic). I efficiently accelerated, signaled, merged and obtained the posted speed limit (70 mph). Aunt and Uncle are nowhere in sight. Dad said to catch them. Fine - 90 mph feels a lot like 70 in a 4-barrel, gas guzzling Lincoln™. “Dad, how fast should I go?” The theory of relativity was never my forte. “Fast enough to catch them.” In retrospect I guess my fear was trivial compared to my mom and sister who didn’t know whether to curse Dad or pray. I caught up.

~

These practice events built my driving confidence because they were supervised and represented a variety of driving situations. Oh, and maybe because I was still young enough to actually listen to my parents!