Modern Benefits of Using the SKIDCAR Correctly

The end of April and the first week in May I spent in DeKalb County, Georgia. Our current customers, Piedmont Technical College in Lithonia, needed new instructors trained. Following that I delivered a refurbished SKIDCAR and trained instructors for the DeKalb County Police Department at their training academy also in Lithonia.

Every new police vehicle made by all the major manufacturers as of 2012 comes standard with electronic stability controls. Our STABLE PLATFORM CONCEPTS©, and “IT’S ABOUT GRIP, NOT SLIP”® curriculum fit perfectly into modern driver training and operation of these new police vehicles. It is exciting to see that the concepts we have been teaching for 20 years will have to be used for successful operation of these new technologies.

Historically, we have found that as driver training programs are handed down by certified instructors to new driver training staff, the details of how the SKIDCAR should be used are forgotten. As this happens, if the SKIDCARs are to be used at all, they are inefficiently blended into a decades old curriculum of skid control and skid recovery.

What is bothersome is the fact that many law enforcement academies nationwide refer to these “SKIDS” to be rear wheel in nature and are referred to as over steer, fish tail, power slide, and the rear wheel skid. Push, plow, or under steer (the front wheel skid) are not even considered into the curriculum! However, if you walk through any municipal or police bone yard, you will see that the majority of wrecks span from the front to the back of the vehicle.

Further to the detriment of this myopic idea of skid training is the fact that every vehicle in Law Enforcement operation today is designed from the factory to be prone to under steer or push or plow. Mismanagement of the front wheel skid is what usually happens first, and then turns into a loose or over steer or rear wheel skid.

With the new ESC systems it is almost impossible to get the rear to slide. But if you go fast enough, a driver of even the most modern vehicle can make enough bad decisions to even crash a vehicle with ESC. Just look at all the single car, loss of control accidents with the Dodge Charger. That car has ESC and somehow the drivers have still found many hard objects to run into since its introduction to Law Enforcement.

So, my excitement is this; if you drive technically correct in regards to the car’s grip, then ESC will never be an issue! Using the tried and true, simplistic objective of training the driver to use the big three (vision, proper use of steering, and using the brake for more than an anchor) properly, can not only meet your state’s standard of rear wheel skid recovery or control, but also at the same time train proper basic and advanced vehicle control. If the driver learned to avoid the rear wheel skid by properly controlling the front wheels of the car, would this not lead to a better driver?

Ok, I admit there is not much more FUN to be had in a car while it’s moving than by sliding sideways. It’s slap on the back, high five, bull’s eye behavior. But that’s it. The most dangerous front wheel skid takes total technical skill to overcome once it’s made. It’s the skid where you get to see what you hit. It’s the skid that creates that sick feeling in your stomach. It’s the skid that happens most often, but for some reason is not taught how to stay out of it or how to correct it once it has been started! It’s why the SKIDCAR was invented in the first place. The SKIDCAR allows training to show what drivers do to make the skids they are lousy at getting out of. The SKIDCAR teaches you most importantly how to think, then drive technically correct in order to stay out of the front or rear wheel skids in the first place.

ESC was designed to activate when mistakes are made by the driver. If the driver is engaged in his duty to drive the car within the vehicle’s and his/her own capability, then this is all that can be asked. What is the fruit of technically correct driving? Higher performance and lowered risk of a loss of control event.

I am asking that if you have a SKIDCAR, find out how to use it wisely. If you don’t have one, please look at your current skid control or recovery training and realistically assess its value in a modern world.
- Dane Pitarresi

SKIDCAR SYSTEM, Inc. is presenting an ESC Workshop for EVOC Instructors on November 6, 2012. Space is limited, so contact 702-395-2896 or info@skidcar.com for details.
SKIDCAR ESC Workshop