December 14, 2005
Young drivers get defensive
Defensive and Winter Driving course takes on slides and skids
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Boosting their skills and judgment, the nine students in Saturday's Defensive and Winter Driving course will be better drivers for their six-hour investment.
Completing the course required classroom time plus a few hours of driving around a serpentine course on the icy parking lot of the Career Tech Center. Most of the students took turns in both the center's van as well as an older, lighter car that did not have anti-lock brakes; some just drove the van. Attendees practiced controlling the vehicle during sudden stops, backing up and steering during skids and slides.
"I learned how to control the car better and to plan ahead - what happens if I turn and the car starts to slide," said Mark Przeslak, 18, a senior at Leeland High School and a student in TBA's Public Safety program. "I took this last February and I felt like this time I paid more attention to what to do."
A number of the students said their parents signed them up, not giving these young drivers a choice in the matter.
"My mom signed me up for this," said Andrew Falber, a junior at Traverse City Central High School, who ultimately thought it was worthwhile. "I've learned a lot about being a defensive driver and the driving part was definitely helpful."
"Probably the red [older] car was harder because Mr. Padgett is a crazy emergency brake puller," he added. "It makes a simulated slide."
The Defensive and Winter Driving course is jointly offered by the TBA and the Traverse City Police Department. Dennis Padgett, a retired Traverse City police officer and an instructor in the Public Safety program, helped teach the course, along with two other police officers. The course was offered for about eight years by the police department and last year became a shared project with TBA.
"It is geared mostly to youth because we feel that they are the ones that need this experience," said Padgett. "Sometimes I think the most difficult thing is getting young people into the program because they feel that they are fine, they are invincible and know everything they need to know."
Having served for decades on patrol, having responded to countless accident scenes where most were preventable, Padgett is passionate about training young people to drive more safely. Many young drivers have never driven in foul weather - parents are reluctant to risk their car for a practice session with a new driver during a snowstorm - but what these kids need most is "practice, practice, practice."
Padgett believes the current Driver's Education system is woefully inadequate in preparing drivers for the realities of the road - winter and summer. He points to the high annual traffic fatality numbers, adding that the cumulative number of people who have been killed in traffic crashes is almost double the number of people killed in every war since 1776.
"It is so disturbing to me that society is so willing to criticize death from people in the service - dying is dying and it's not a pleasant issue," said Padgett. "Yet when somebody is killed in a highway crash, I don't see parents out protesting, walking down in front of insurance company offices of the Secretary of State's office protesting why isn't there more Driver's Ed."
"To me, there's not a day that goes by where we don't hear about the tragedy of war, yet we're still killing people at a high rate on the roads," he added.
From his own experience, Luke Hepler, a junior at Traverse City West High School, said the classroom hours and driving time in Driver's Ed only goes so far to preparing students for difficult situations.
"We learned a lot today about how to control, like when you get out of control how to get back in," he noted. "We never learned all that in Driver's Ed. I feel more confident."
For more information on this Saturday's and future Defensive and Winter Driving courses, contact Dennis Padgett at 922-6458.