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Driving School Part 2 Sitting ‘properly’ behind the wheel is the first step to successfully handling driving emergencies. That’s the first thing chief instructor Andy Field addresses in the Labatt’s Road Scholarship program. Last week, approximately 80 Moose Jaw students were steered through the do’s and don’ts of safe driving. There is a right way and a wrong way to sit behind the wheel. Some of the wrong positions are the 'crotch grip' drivers who grip the bottom of the wheel with both hands, the praying mantis drivers who lean into the wheel with both hands at the top of the wheel and the bicycle rider grip where drivers grip the inside of the steering wheel. The proper way, in today’s cars, is with both hands at shoulder height and elbows slightly bent. Sit with the left leg bent and the foot planted against the fire wall, Field said. The right leg should be bent with the heel acting as a pivot between the gas and brake pedal. The next step is setting the side mirrors. The recommended mirror position is to have the side mirrors set wide, so the body of the vehicle is not visible in the mirrors. “You don’t need the car as a reference point. At first it will be awkward but once you get used to it you will find you have a much wider angle of vision behind the car," Field said. Once the students had their proper positioning it was time to roll. The exercise focuses on accident avoidance through proper braking technique, Field said. Students were introduced to threshold braking applying hard pressure without allowing the wheels to lock, putting the car into a skid. As participants soon learned, it’s a difficult task to master. "It is hard at first. What we believe is once the students are introduced to it they use it and get used to it,” said instructor Kevin Lloyd. "It’s also hard in a vehicle you aren’t used to.” During the course, students got to act out their driving fantasies in brand the new Ford Probe XS powered with a peppy 2.2 litre, 12 valve, electronically fuel injected four cylinder engine. What the students were supposed to be learning while skidding about was that as soon as a car begins to skid, control is lost and with proper threshold braking control can be regained and accidents resulting from emergency situations can be avoided. The final exercise was having an obstacle - in this case one of the driving instructors -suddenly jump out from either the oncoming traffic lane or from the shoulder into the driving lane. Drivers were forced to steer away from the instructor and around five pylons representing a road hazard in their driving lane. Not so easy on a road surface slick with goo much like that found on Buffalo Pound. Some students triumphed at the final exercise while others managed to clear their driving lane of pylons much like the way a well thrown bowling ball clears away pins. That’s fine in a bowling lane but not on the road. With the completion of the program the only way to know if the course worked is to get into a panic driving situation. "We get many letters from students writing about how they were able to avoid collisions using what they learned,” Field said. With a few hours of emergency driver training the students are introduced to skills that all drivers should know but hope they never, need to use. The program, now in its third year, has helped about 9,000 young drivers improve their driving skills. |
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