I have recently noticed a media trend regarding this question of using Racing Drivers to teach Driver Safety. I have been on both sides of the debate throughout my career. My own experience progressed from a racer, to a driver instructor and racing school owner. Now it continues as a driver training equipment supplier, instructor trainer, and driver training service provider employing instructors to work for me, primarily outside the public sector.
Motor skills training (if that is what you're teaching) needs experienced instructors that know vehicle dynamics inside and out. The instructors have to be very good drivers to answer, persuade, motivate and often times demonstrate physically what they can't communicate cognitively. Some Racing Drivers make excellent driving instructors as they have had to master not only driving, but communication on many different levels from PR, to working with data, to dealing with cranky car owners, crew chiefs, media and fans.
The real and great trainers I know are easy to use in hybrid training as they are presentable, professional, and know their craft well enough that given an assignment they learn quickly. Most of them are masters at turning a sow’s ear into a silk purse.
As a Racing Driver Instructor in the early 90's, I was involved in a study in Oregon. It is out there on the web somewhere, but in short we used a curriculum of skills-based training dealing with the issue of SKID CONTROL.
Want to know how the study turned out? Come back for Part 2 next week, and as always, we are interested to hear your thoughts and comments.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
The Danger of Inefficient Training
The Driver Training industry faces a sobering message as we enter 2011. Once again we see an increase in Law Enforcement traffic related crashes with fatal results. The statistics show a dramatic rise in these incidents which now far outweigh the number of deaths caused by gunfire. Needless to say, all is not well in the Municipal driver training industry.
What happened? While we do not know the details of all these accidents, we do know that in the last 20 years Police and Fire/EMS driver training has become more exposed as a needed and mandatory training segment. Considering the amount of time spent in their vehicles, driving is in many cases the number one component of risk for injury or death to Police officers.
Even with the raised exposure to driver training, we have to wonder if the curriculum being offered is as good as it could be? With more driver training AND more accidents, is the offered curriculum doing more harm than good?
It may be time to reevaluate and move driver training into the 21st Century. Electronic dynamic safety technology (ESC/ESP/TC/electronic brake force distribution and more) allows vehicles to help the driver when mistakes are made. Does this mean all the electronics will take the place of thorough driver training? No, we don’t think so. However, Driver Training in the 21st century may need to move from motor-skills based, to improving how the driver thinks and communicates with the new, smarter modes of transportation.
A very interesting future awaits us. Hopefully, we will be a part of it, and not caught still sorting out driver training curriculum from the 20th Century.
I would be interested to hear your thoughts…
Dane
What happened? While we do not know the details of all these accidents, we do know that in the last 20 years Police and Fire/EMS driver training has become more exposed as a needed and mandatory training segment. Considering the amount of time spent in their vehicles, driving is in many cases the number one component of risk for injury or death to Police officers.
Even with the raised exposure to driver training, we have to wonder if the curriculum being offered is as good as it could be? With more driver training AND more accidents, is the offered curriculum doing more harm than good?
It may be time to reevaluate and move driver training into the 21st Century. Electronic dynamic safety technology (ESC/ESP/TC/electronic brake force distribution and more) allows vehicles to help the driver when mistakes are made. Does this mean all the electronics will take the place of thorough driver training? No, we don’t think so. However, Driver Training in the 21st century may need to move from motor-skills based, to improving how the driver thinks and communicates with the new, smarter modes of transportation.
A very interesting future awaits us. Hopefully, we will be a part of it, and not caught still sorting out driver training curriculum from the 20th Century.
I would be interested to hear your thoughts…
Dane
Monday, December 20, 2010
Happy Holidays!
As we approach the end of 2010, we understand that schedules and plans for the New Year are likely already underway. We would like to remind you that our new Mobile Driver Training Program officially begins in the spring, and the calendar is currently open to reserve training dates for your company/department.
Additional information is available on our website at http://www.skidcar.com/skidcar-system/mobile-driver-training.php, and we are always glad to answer your questions personally by calling (866) 754-3227.
Additional information is available on our website at http://www.skidcar.com/skidcar-system/mobile-driver-training.php, and we are always glad to answer your questions personally by calling (866) 754-3227.
All our best wishes for a wonderful Holiday Season and prosperous New Year!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
2010 ALERT International Conference
LAS VEGAS, NV, - SKIDCAR SYSTEM, Inc. was pleased to have the opportunity to attend the 2010 ALERT (Association of Professional Law Enforcement Emergency Response Trainers) International Conference. For many months, we at SKIDCAR SYSTEM, Inc. have been working diligently to complete the curriculum details of our new ESC focused training program. It was presented in an abbreviated format for the first time during this conference, and judging from all feedback and accounts of the experience, the workshop was a great success.
We want to thank Director RuthAnn Baugh and Randy Jacoby of the Precision Driving Training Center OSU-OKC for their hospitality and use of their facility and Ford Expedition fitted with a SKIDCAR SYSTEM™. An outstanding number of attendees were able to get behind the wheel for the hands-on component of exposing ESC during our presentations, thanks to the PDTC accommodations.
In the last three years, SKIDCAR SYSTEM, Inc. has gained extensive knowledge through the use of our own SKIDCAR™ demonstration unit and by driving other vehicles both with and without ESC in the USA and Europe. This combination of experiences has provided us a very clear picture of the curriculum needed for future training with ESC.
Those that drove the PDTC Expedition with SKIDCAR found that ESC activates when the driver does something incorrect behind the wheel. Previously accepted control techniques only slowed down the recovery times and increased the amount of road surface used. All the while, ESC was doing its best to correct the driver’s problems. We feel that as we teach students how to drive with ESC rather than against it, control techniques will be more straightforward and take less time to master, ultimately providing more time for important components like a proactive thought process. Not surprisingly, everyone who participated in this exercise felt the same way. There is no question about the need for calculated exposure to these programs, and that assessment was only further reinforced by the outcome of our experience at ALERT.
The nature of the EVOC industry has always been one resistant to change. A perfect example is past skid control and cornering curriculum. The old training focuses singularly on a rear wheel or over steer skid and racing path of travel strategies that just don’t make sense in today’s driving environment. Doing nothing to change curriculum has proven to be the easiest course of action for a very long time. After training in the EVOC environment for more than 20 years, the minimal changes we have seen in curricula have failed to evolve much with modern thought process, technology, and environment.
Instructors did evolve however, due to years of experience and the personal initiative to increase their own knowledge. But now we are seeing a “changing of the guard” as many of these instructors are retiring. Without years of trial and error to lean on, young new instructors are turning to the published curriculum for guidance - the same curriculum that hasn’t changed in nearly two decades. It seems only practical that to increase safety and efficiency, we need to move forward with new ideas that work, utilizing the new technology available. Then, the new generation of instructors will be better equipped to train a new generation driver accustomed to learning in a different way.
Through the development of ESC, the automobile manufacturers and their safety system engineers have taken positive steps to forever change the way we will think about controlling a Car, Truck, or SUV in adverse conditions or an emergency event. Now, it will be up to the Law Enforcement Driver Training industry to meet the challenges of the very near future.
We want to thank Director RuthAnn Baugh and Randy Jacoby of the Precision Driving Training Center OSU-OKC for their hospitality and use of their facility and Ford Expedition fitted with a SKIDCAR SYSTEM™. An outstanding number of attendees were able to get behind the wheel for the hands-on component of exposing ESC during our presentations, thanks to the PDTC accommodations.
In the last three years, SKIDCAR SYSTEM, Inc. has gained extensive knowledge through the use of our own SKIDCAR™ demonstration unit and by driving other vehicles both with and without ESC in the USA and Europe. This combination of experiences has provided us a very clear picture of the curriculum needed for future training with ESC.
Those that drove the PDTC Expedition with SKIDCAR found that ESC activates when the driver does something incorrect behind the wheel. Previously accepted control techniques only slowed down the recovery times and increased the amount of road surface used. All the while, ESC was doing its best to correct the driver’s problems. We feel that as we teach students how to drive with ESC rather than against it, control techniques will be more straightforward and take less time to master, ultimately providing more time for important components like a proactive thought process. Not surprisingly, everyone who participated in this exercise felt the same way. There is no question about the need for calculated exposure to these programs, and that assessment was only further reinforced by the outcome of our experience at ALERT.
The nature of the EVOC industry has always been one resistant to change. A perfect example is past skid control and cornering curriculum. The old training focuses singularly on a rear wheel or over steer skid and racing path of travel strategies that just don’t make sense in today’s driving environment. Doing nothing to change curriculum has proven to be the easiest course of action for a very long time. After training in the EVOC environment for more than 20 years, the minimal changes we have seen in curricula have failed to evolve much with modern thought process, technology, and environment.
Instructors did evolve however, due to years of experience and the personal initiative to increase their own knowledge. But now we are seeing a “changing of the guard” as many of these instructors are retiring. Without years of trial and error to lean on, young new instructors are turning to the published curriculum for guidance - the same curriculum that hasn’t changed in nearly two decades. It seems only practical that to increase safety and efficiency, we need to move forward with new ideas that work, utilizing the new technology available. Then, the new generation of instructors will be better equipped to train a new generation driver accustomed to learning in a different way.
Through the development of ESC, the automobile manufacturers and their safety system engineers have taken positive steps to forever change the way we will think about controlling a Car, Truck, or SUV in adverse conditions or an emergency event. Now, it will be up to the Law Enforcement Driver Training industry to meet the challenges of the very near future.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
The Safety Issues of Computerized Car Control
Here are a couple of fascinating articles brought to our attention by Mark Edmund, a SKIDCAR driving instructor at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy. Though not training based, they center on vehicle control by focusing on the idea that the computerized nature of vehicles today could potentially leave them vulnerable to attack from outside sources. This is an interesting safety concept, to say the least.
If you have articles or comments to share, please let us know. We would love to hear from you!
Taking Over a Car
Sept\Oct 2010
Cars are becoming more computerized, an evolution that could have an unintended side effect: vulnerability to attacks.
Source: Technology Review
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/26045/?a=f http://www.autosec.org/pubs/cars-oakland2010.pdf
If you have articles or comments to share, please let us know. We would love to hear from you!
Taking Over a Car
Sept\Oct 2010
Cars are becoming more computerized, an evolution that could have an unintended side effect: vulnerability to attacks.
Source: Technology Review
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/26045/?a=f http://www.autosec.org/pubs/cars-oakland2010.pdf
Friday, October 1, 2010
There's More Than One Type of Skid
Why, oh why do driving instructors from all disciplines think there is only one type of skid?
Driver training in the 21st Century is getting very interesting. After 35 years of practical driver training experience at a number of different levels I think things are going backward. No pun intended!
Why do agencies (you know who you are) buy a very expensive and most cleverly designed piece of equipment and use it to only skid sideways, or even worse, play games with the students by pushing buttons and unexpectedly relieving grip to make them go out of control? I subscribe to throwing tasks at the driver, but let’s make sure it’s meaningful. I have seen and heard way too many stories of the driver never being held accountable for the slide because of the “show”. We have found (and so do most SKIDCAR users) that the student is highly qualified to make his or her own mistakes without any help… Thank you very much.
Back to this over steer, over react, over use, rear wheel slide-skid. Personally, I think it is focused on because it creates the most bang for the buck (in entertainment value). It’s fun to slide, easy to teach correction if you have enough room, and did I say it’s fun? In fact, there is a whole motorsport dedicated to just this: sliding sideways!
But mainly neglected is the fact that front-wheel skids are often the cause of a rear-wheel reaction. They are more difficult to recover from, and ultimately deadlier. Plus, the technology of ESC is about to change the game by removing the likelihood of rear-wheel skids, and leaving you with only the one that no one wants to talk about. Are you ready for that? Are your students? Don’t your public service officials deserve better?
I’d like to hear what you think.
Dane
Driver training in the 21st Century is getting very interesting. After 35 years of practical driver training experience at a number of different levels I think things are going backward. No pun intended!
Why do agencies (you know who you are) buy a very expensive and most cleverly designed piece of equipment and use it to only skid sideways, or even worse, play games with the students by pushing buttons and unexpectedly relieving grip to make them go out of control? I subscribe to throwing tasks at the driver, but let’s make sure it’s meaningful. I have seen and heard way too many stories of the driver never being held accountable for the slide because of the “show”. We have found (and so do most SKIDCAR users) that the student is highly qualified to make his or her own mistakes without any help… Thank you very much.
Back to this over steer, over react, over use, rear wheel slide-skid. Personally, I think it is focused on because it creates the most bang for the buck (in entertainment value). It’s fun to slide, easy to teach correction if you have enough room, and did I say it’s fun? In fact, there is a whole motorsport dedicated to just this: sliding sideways!
But mainly neglected is the fact that front-wheel skids are often the cause of a rear-wheel reaction. They are more difficult to recover from, and ultimately deadlier. Plus, the technology of ESC is about to change the game by removing the likelihood of rear-wheel skids, and leaving you with only the one that no one wants to talk about. Are you ready for that? Are your students? Don’t your public service officials deserve better?
I’d like to hear what you think.
Dane
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)