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Jed Boal reportingThis winter most of us ended up behind the wheel for a white-knuckle drive on snowy roads and there's more to come. Now, you can practice winter driving without wrecking your car.
Within the past week, many of us felt that frightening sensation of skidding out on the road. I went through that over and over today, but it was a controlled environment with teachers who showed me how to make corrections.
By the time you find yourself spinning out of control, it's too late. If you could practice and learn why you lost traction and how to pull out of the skid you'd end up with better results
That's what you get at the Winter Driving Academy at Miller Motorsports Park. It's training you won't get in driver's ed. Dan McKeever, a driving school instructor, says, "If we can create a situation where we can recognize where there's low traction levels and stay in a traction level, then we don't have to worry about dealing with those situations. We focus a lot on being prepared for what's coming."
The skid car simulates icy conditions, loss of traction and complete spinouts.
The real advantage of the simulator car is that you get to make your mistakes and feel the loss of traction in a safe environment, rather than out on the road.
"If we brake in a straight line, slow it down, off the brakes by the time we turn, we're going to have a stable car," says driving school instructor James Burke.
Before you get behind the wheel of the skid car, you learn the fundamentals of traction in the classroom. McKeever says, "Really, it's designed for anyone, newly-licensed drivers to folks who have been driving a long time."
There are three keys to winter driving. The first one is vision. "Make sure you look far enough ahead to recognize what your environment is," McKeever says.
The second thing to remember is speed. He says, "We need to go slow enough to retain traction."
And the third key to winter driving: don't overreact. "Make your actions calculated. Don't just make movements for the sake of making movements. Understand what it is your vehicle is doing, understand what tractions levels you have, and point the car in the direction you want to go," says McKeever.
Anyone with a valid state driver's license can take the course. It costs $199 per student. For more information, click on the related link.
