{"id":4540,"date":"2011-11-09T06:50:18","date_gmt":"2011-11-08T23:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/?p=4540"},"modified":"2011-11-09T06:50:27","modified_gmt":"2011-11-08T23:50:27","slug":"ford-offers-free-driving-skills-for-life-courses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/ford-offers-free-driving-skills-for-life-courses\/","title":{"rendered":"Ford Offers Free Driving Skills for Life Courses"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Lori Cunningham<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Car accidents are the number one cause for teenager deaths. \u00a0Many of these deaths are due to two main reasons:<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Inexperience<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Distraction<\/p>\n

\u00a0Today, only 1\/2 of the high\u00a0schools\u00a0in America provide drivers education. \u00a0Furthermore, according to Ford,<\/p>\n

“A 16-year old driver is 10 times<\/strong> more likely to be involved in a crash than an adult.”<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ford is taking a proactive approach to help students and their\u00a0families\u00a0by providing online and in-person drivers training. \u00a0Several years ago, they created a program called Driving Skills for Life<\/a>. \u00a0Driving Skills for Life offers teens a hands-on program where students learn driving skills in the parking lots of their schools or at the local mall. \u00a0The program is designed for students who have yet to receive their driver’s license or those who have already received it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Driving Skills for Life has been in 29 states and provided 20,000 students with experienced hands-on driving skills training. \u00a0Ford invested another million\u00a0dollars\u00a0for a 30 city, 15 high school tour for this upcoming year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Web-based Training<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Knowing they can’t be everywhere, Ford created web-based training to reach teens and parents nationally. \u00a0Millions of visitors have utilized\u00a0Ford’s\u00a0site and more than 400,000 have used its online training. \u00a0Online training is free by registering for The Academy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My Experience with the Driving Skills for Life<\/span><\/h2>\n

Ford invited me to their Car of Tomorrow<\/a> event in Orlando, FL in October to see first-hand how their Driving Skills for Life works. \u00a0They took over the top floor of a parking garage to show us how they teach and interact with the teenagers in the Driving Skills for Life program. \u00a0I was greeted by my instructor, who used to be a professional race car driver. Apparently, there are a number of professional race car drivers who teach this program. \u00a0They have been in dangerous situations before and can confidently help teenagers prepare.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I was instructed to follow a path of cones involving some tight turns, very few\u00a0straight\u00a0paths, a stop sign, and one fork in the road with a sign that told me to keep to the right.<\/p>\n

After going through the path a few times my instructor informed me that when I make turns I keep my hand on the wheel in one spot so that at a tight curve my hand is at the bottom of the steering wheel. \u00a0 This causes two main problems. \u00a0First, in a case where I’ve lost control of the car, this position gives me less flexibility. \u00a0Second, if the air bag blows, I will severely injure my arm. \u00a0 It’s always best to keep your hands at the 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock position. \u00a0Oh yeah, I remember that now!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Texting and Driving<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Next I was asked to take out my cellphone and drive the course. \u00a0Are you crazy? \u00a0The instructor said that kids LOVE this exercise because they can do something they all know they’re not supposed to do. \u00a0I slowed down considerably to text, to which the instructor told me, keep driving! \u00a0Needless to say, I knocked over a lot of cones, stopped way too long at the stop sign, and missed the fact that someone turned the arrow sign the other way at the fork in the road and I went the wrong way. \u00a0And with today’s\u00a0auto-correct, my text message was a garble of words! \u00a0I didn’t do either task very well.<\/p>\n

Lesson<\/strong>: \u00a0it is impossible to drive and text and do either one very well at the same time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Losing Control of Your Vehicle<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the next driving lesson, they set up a small racetrack. \u00a0We were to drive using the gas pedal on the straight-aways and let go as we made the corners. \u00a0The car would spin and lose traction at the corners. \u00a0We were taught to not look at where we were headed but instead to look where you want to end up. \u00a0Great training. \u00a0So few teens ever get the opportunity to learn how to get out of a spin while they’re in one. \u00a0We repeated this\u00a0exercise\u00a0a number of times.<\/p>\n

Lesson<\/strong>: \u00a0when in a spin-out, look towards the spot you’d like to end up in, not the spot your vehicle is\u00a0careening\u00a0towards.<\/p>\n

The regular course involves more exercises but it was clear to me that this hands-on training is invaluable for today’s teens. \u00a0When I think back to my high school driving\u00a0simulation\u00a0days, Ford’s Driving Skills for Life far exceeds the skills I was taught as a teenager.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Want to be notified when Ford’s Driving Skills for Life will be in your area? \u00a0Just fill out their\u00a0notification form. I highly recommend it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How Ford is helping teens stay safe on the road through their Driving Skills for Life program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[747,13,14,16],"tags":[927,748,261],"class_list":["post-4540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cars-2","category-kids","category-moms","category-phones","tag-driving-skills-for-life","tag-ford","tag-teen-driving","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/p-content\/themes\/atahualpa342\/images\/articles\/2011\/11\/Ford-Driving-Skills-for-Life-400.jpg?fit=400%2C297&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}