Life Lessons
Drive2Survive Teaches Teen Drivers How to Avoid Crashes

By Clarence Williams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 5, 2007

Using both hands, Darrius Dickerson clenched the sporty coupe's steering wheel as he accelerated into the tight turns at speeds higher than 40 mph. The novice driver couldn't speak, all his focus intent on keeping the Toyota Scion from crashing into traffic cones or spinning out on the soaked pavement.

Riding shotgun, driving instructor Brian Carroll suddenly yanked the parking brake and forced the car into a violent skid. The car careened into a kidney-jarring spin that bugged out the eyes of the 18-year-old driver.

"Take a deep breath," Carroll said in a calm tone. "Remember, you're going to turn into the skid. Stay off the gas, off the brake, until it's under control."

Simulating vehicular disasters such as skidding is why Dickerson's parents paid $200 for the course.

Dickerson and about a dozen other young drivers faced this and other road challenges in an empty Lot 7 of RFK Stadium on a recent Saturday, during a Drive2Survive clinic. The nonprofit program is run by a small group of law enforcement trainers from D.C., Maryland and Virginia police departments. It teaches young drivers how to change lanes, maneuver at highway speeds and avoid obstacles, as well as how brakes respond at speeds up to 65 mph.

About 800 young drivers and their parents have completed the course since its inception in 2002, according to D.C. police Officer Eric Espinosa, one of the instructors. Espinosa has trained fellow officers for the past nine years. Clinics are scheduled monthly at RFK Stadium, Patuxent River Webster air base or Maryland State Police headquarters in Pikesville.

"We all started this program so that young drivers don't panic, crash and kill themselves," Espinosa said. "It's the leading cause of death for ages 15 to 20."

Students receive six hours of driving and two hours of classroom instruction. There is a multimedia presentation of car crashes and lectures on how to avoid accidents or at least minimize the damage if a collision is imminent.

"It's very advanced stuff that we're teaching, and it works," Espinosa said. "We've been teaching it to law enforcement for 10 years."

The group has been sponsored by Toyota, which has donated cars since 2004, and is negotiating to receive support from local governments and national insurance companies, Espinosa said.

At the recent clinic, three Scions sped, braked and maneuvered around the expansive and empty parking lot, putting inexperienced drivers through their paces. Rather than smashed cars, half a dozen orange traffic cones lay crumpled in the lot.

Dickerson's parents, Darrell Dickerson and Marcella Stretch, watched the action patiently, hoping their 18-year-old son would gain valuable experience after driving for only about six months.

"He's demanding the car nowadays. We try to let him know the dangers on the road," Darrell Dickerson said.

"Don't you think he has too much confidence?" Stretch asked his father. "Yeah, he's a little cocky. He needs a reality check," the father said.

A few weeks ago, Dickerson, who lives in Forestville with his mother, had "a minor incident" while driving the family's 1996 Saturn "a little too fast" into a sharp corner. He said the Saturn had a mind of its own after he jerked the wheel hard.

"It wasn't too hard, but it was hard enough that the car didn't like me," Darrius Dickerson said. "The car said, 'Forget this. Let's see what that grass feels like over there.' "

The family Saturn rolled off the road, up a hill, over a sewer pipe and through a "No Parking" sign.

"Yeah. That sign got cut in half," Darrius Dickerson said. "That was my second day with the car."

His mother remembered a television newscast highlighting Drive2Survive, and after investigating the group's Web site, she made this clinic mandatory for driving, even the old Saturn.

"He didn't resist coming," she said. "He knows that was a requirement in order to drive. If that was going to help him get the keys, he was all for that."

Like most parents who enroll their children, they stayed through the classroom session. Instructors encourage them to participate so they can reinforce the lessons learned, Espinosa said.

The clinics can handle up to 30 students, making the instructor-student ratio about 3 to 1, Espinosa said. But the program operates far below capacity, and Espinosa said he hopes more parents see the wisdom in investing some money to keep their children safer behind the wheel.

"We have dates twice a month, and we're not getting classes filled," Espinosa said. "We're probably the cheapest in the country for what we're doing. We're not trying to get rich."

Victoria Staver, 21, of Bethesda is still haunted by her first accident as a 16-year-old driver on a rainy afternoon on MacArthur Boulevard in the District. With three friends in the car, she hydroplaned across the center lane before the car crashed into a ditch. No one was injured, but the experience keeps her off the roads in inclement weather.

"Ever since then, I'm terrified in the rain," Staver said.

As Staver recounted her terror, Espinosa clenched a cigar in this teeth and dumped two industrial-size containers of laundry detergent on the parking lot as a fire hydrant hose flooded the area to replicate a slick, rainy roadway.

"I'm scared to do this!" Staver said with a laugh, as students prepared to take turns maneuvering around a circle of cones at high speeds.

The combination of these hands-on lessons, the classroom lecture and video examples offered "a confidence booster," Staver said. She and her fellow students realized how limited their instruction was in high school driving courses.

"We're all talking about how [inferior] driving school is compared to this," she said.

Joanne Rouse and her daughter Jillian, 18, of Burke, attended a clinic last year at Lake Braddock High School, where Joanne Rouse jumped behind the wheel herself, learning to accelerate into curves and testing abilities she may never need.

"I found I had skills I didn't know I had -- I can drive backward through an obstacle course," Rouse said. "It was really weird to hear them say 'go faster through the curves.' "

The family's two older daughters finished only basic driving instruction, but because Jillian would face heavier traffic, particularly on the Beltway, her parents decided to bolster her training, especially as she heads off to Mary Washington University. The behind-the-wheel experience in a closed setting offered confidence to daughter and mother.

"What made us nervous was the whole idea of the Beltway," Joanne Rouse said. "I think it just gave the kids a little more idea of what could happen."

For more information about the course, go tohttp://www.drive2survive.org.