Every year, thousands of teens die in car crashes and hundreds of thousands more are taken to the hospital with serious injuries. At the same time, there’s less and less funding available for Driver’s Education, and more and more responsibility placed on parents to make sure their teens are properly trained before they get behind the wheel.
But think about it: How much time (and money) do parents and teens spend on soccer practice, music lessons, academic tutors … and how much effort do we put into making sure new drivers can survive what is potentially the most dangerous activity they’ll experience in their lifetime?
Many organizations have recognized the enormity of this problem and the disconnect between how we spend our time and energy and what activities pose the greatest danger to teens.
One organization that is dedicated to this issue – and is really making a difference – is B.R.A.K.E.S., a Guidestar Gold-rated 501(c)(3) charity created by multi-time top fuel drag racing champion Doug Herbert, who experienced the unimaginable tragedy of losing both of his sons, James and Jon, in a car crash eight years ago.
As devastated as he was by the loss of his sons, Herbert was stunned when he learned just how many parents each year get that same life-changing phone call. But as a professional racer, he also knew he had the skills and the contacts to do something about it.
But think about it: How much time (and money) do parents and teens spend on soccer practice, music lessons, academic tutors … and how much effort do we put into making sure new drivers can survive what is potentially the most dangerous activity they’ll experience in their lifetime?
Many organizations have recognized the enormity of this problem and the disconnect between how we spend our time and energy and what activities pose the greatest danger to teens.
One organization that is dedicated to this issue – and is really making a difference – is B.R.A.K.E.S., a Guidestar Gold-rated 501(c)(3) charity created by multi-time top fuel drag racing champion Doug Herbert, who experienced the unimaginable tragedy of losing both of his sons, James and Jon, in a car crash eight years ago.
As devastated as he was by the loss of his sons, Herbert was stunned when he learned just how many parents each year get that same life-changing phone call. But as a professional racer, he also knew he had the skills and the contacts to do something about it.
On a Mission
In that first year, Herbert, with the help of other racers, created an advanced driver training program to prepare his son Jon’s friends for the kind of situations drivers face every day – skidding on an off-ramp, panic braking, emergency lane changes, etc. – scenarios that are often deadly for new drivers due to lack of experience. Jon’s classmates came up with the acronym B.R.A.K.E.S., which stood for Be Responsible And Keep Everyone Safe, and a mission was born.
Eight years later, B.R.A.K.E.S. has trained more than 20,000 teens from 40 different states and three countries. When you add in their parents, who required to attend the training alongside their teen, that’s nearly 50,000 safer drivers on the road thanks to the charity that Herbert started to honor his sons. This year, B.R.A.K.E.S. will host nearly 50 weekend schools, visiting 25 different cities.
Each event includes four identical sessions to allow parents and teens to pick one that will fit into their busy weekend schedules, and each session includes four hours of training, including a short, 45-minute classroom presentation and lots of driving time in a fleet of new cars provided by Kia – with highly trained professional instructorsriding shotgun, men and women who train state troopers, the Secret Service and the FBI, and others who race professionally and/or perform stunts in movies. Courses include distracted driving awareness, panic braking, crash avoidance, and skid control – all of the biggest causes of crashes for new drivers.
Proven Effective
Ask Herbert or any B.R.A.K.E.S. instructor, and most teen graduates or their parents, and the transformation that the B.R.A.K.E.S. experience induces is a very real and tangible thing. Often teens arrive for training somewhat surly, a bit resentful that their weekend time has been committed to what they think is going to be some sort of “Driver’s Ed school-thing.” Many have already been driving for months or even longer, and they think there’s nothing more to learn.
But usually a little more than an hour later, the students are fully engaged, intently listening to their instructors and nervously laughing when it’s their turn to get behind the wheel and try something they’ve never done before. By the end of the four-hour session, graduation certificate in hand, the students are usually all smiles, and on the walk back to the car, many hugs are exchanged between parent and teen as both share a genuine moment of connection and common experience.
And after the fact, there’s a steady stream of letters, emails and social media posts expressing gratitude for the training – often because it’s just been put to good use in an on-the-road incident that could have been a disaster.
Evidence of B.R.A.K.E.S.’ efficacy goes beyond anecdotes, however. In a study conducted by University of North Carolina, Charlotte, Professor Emeritus Dr. Paul Friday compared driving records from five years’ worth of B.R.A.K.E.S. graduates with non-graduate peers, and the results were staggering: Teens without the B.R.A.K.E.S. training were more than twice as likely to experience a crash in the first three years of driving. Said another way, B.R.A.K.E.S. training reduced the likelihood of a crash by 64 percent!
B.R.A.K.E.S. training is open to anyone age 15-19 with a valid learner’s permit or driver’s license and at least 30 hours of experience behind the wheel. And at least one parent or legal guardian must attend with the teen.
Anyone interested in attending B.R.A.K.E.S. training, whether in the D.C. area or another part of the country, should visit www.putonthebrakes.org to find out more and sign up. Registration requires a deposit of $99 to secure a seat, but it’s fully refundable upon arrival at the school.
