Defensive Driving

Tom signed the girls up for the teen defensive driving course put on by the Sheriff's office. It is a free class designed, not to teach kids how to drive, but to teach them defensive skills they need to know to drive. The first day was a four hour in-the-classroom class with scary movies and lectures about drinking and driving, texting and driving, etc. Both girls came home whining about the length and the boredom of the class.

The next day was an all day Saturday class outside on the Sheriff's make-shift, but soon to be state of the art, practice course that is used by the deputies. It is located on of the last pieces of undeveloped areas in our county and consisted of three different courses spread out over several acres. Each student used his own car and was assigned a deputy for the day. Darcy and Maddy shared their car and their deputy. He was a bulky, bald headed, man with bulging muscles and a deep voice. All of the deputies were dressed in Sheriff's shirts and each one wore their utility belt with handgun, ammunition, radio, handcuffs, pepper spray, etc. I secretly wondered how much that thing weighed and would I lose weight if I wore it daily around the house. Needless to say, I thought it all intimidating.

They did quite a lot. They had to wear specially designed goggles that simulated being intoxicated and they had to walk the line as if they had been pulled over. They had to learn how to drive the vehicle to avoid tipping it over. They learned the correct way to hold your hands (which isn't at ten and two for you old timers) on the steering wheel and how to correct the vehicle if you go off the road.

They spent tons of time running the course back and forth threw orange cones at speeds I only drive on the highway. At the end of the course the parents got to ride with the kids as they went with their deputy through the course. I videotaped both girls from the back seat, but seriously the speed and the in and out of the cones almost made me throw up. The video doesn't show the speed, but it was at least 40 miles an hour through this narrow course of cones. I have to say I was impressed with what they learned.

At the end of the day both girls were tired, but they agreed it was a class well worth taking. Both feel better having gone through it, and well, both Tom and I feel better too.