Involve Yourself: Become a Better Driver

There you are, stuck in traffic on the 405 some Friday afternoon. You've spent a fair share of days behind the wheel of a car, and you think, "I'm good. Real good." Rolling into Silverlake adjacent to visit the Shortstop for a well-deserved beverage, you wheel your doom-mobile into a perfect parallel parking maneuver (six inches from the curb, decent clearance both in front and behind, wheels curbed—just like in San Fran). Afterward, pulling out onto Sunset Blvd., you stop far enough back so pedestrians can pass in front of you, you signal your intentions and wait for the appropriate opportunity before heading back onto the highways and byways of America—home of the free, land of the brave, parking lot for the insane.


During your reverie, you realize that your automotive training consisted of a few hours of high school era filmage and lectures, perhaps a couple of weeks under the stern tutelage of a parental-unit or, if you were lucky, a fun family friend. Though the advice and exposure to various driving skills have been useful—you've managed to trundle along all these years with nary a problem—have you ever thought about actively becoming a better driver? Driving is something you've done almost every day since you turned 16, and you'll be doing it for years to come. Certainly it's worth a look at what is available—it could even be fun!

Wising Up
There are quite a number of ways to increase your skills. They range from manufacturers who are starting to offer "performance test-drives," to professional high-performance driving schools to specialized training for either a particular skill—evasive/anti-terrorist driving—or a particular kind of driving like off-road adventuring. Stepping up to competitive racing will most certainly give you skills, which you can use on your commute. Even some fairly wild ideas, such as learning to ride a motorcycle or advancing your repair skills, may have that something special you need to help get you involved and committed—and will likely pay off in some unintended ways.

Manufacturers
Mazda recently created their "Performance Driving School & National Competition" known as "Rev It Up," which offers a day of instruction and practice in various car control arts, backed up by a timed run through an autocross course to prove the point that we all have something we can learn. BMW and Porsche both offer high-performance instruction for owners of their vehicles, allowing the outer-limit style of driving their cars excel at in a closed-course environment. Land Rover has a class that will not only teach you how to extricate your brand new off-road beast from a muddy bog, but will teach you how to get it stuck in the first place!

Pro Schools
Skip Barber, Bob Bondurant and Jim Russell are just three brand name schools that come to mind. Typically they will offer a deeper and broader selection of courses ranging from "Teen Intro to Driving" classes through full-on race classes, competition certification and even multi-event race seasons! All can instruct you in the fine art of car control; thus, all are valuable to the commuter. But there are other schools out there if these cause you to yawn. How about such specialized instruction as for wanna-be stunt drivers? Or how about anti-kidnapping/terrorist Secret-Service-type driving skills? They're out there, if that's what it takes.