Training Teens.(safety measures of car drivers)(Column)

Byline: KC Crain

It's officially winter in Detroit. It's freezing cold, and the roads can be horrible. My 26-mile commute reminds me about the importance of driver education. As I watch people do the most idiotic things on the highway, I'm amazed at how folks forget what inclement weather does to the roads.

We've been talking a lot about teen-driver safety around here, and winter is another variable to add to the equation.

If people don't attend driving school shortly after they receive their licenses, bad habits probably will set in. Once a new driver is licensed to drive, parents are no longer required to be in the car. It's now up to that new driver to practice all of the safe-driving tactics read about and practiced in class. Yeah, right.

I can't tell you how many times I've used my driving-school training. I'm not talking about high-performance-driving courses, just the crash-avoidance drills that have saved my butt.

One of my colleagues has a daughter who, like most kids, wanted a new car for her 16th birthday. He absolutely refused, saying that she would wreck the car in the first year, guaranteed. I don't know if that's the best attitude, but he was convinced.

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