Teenage Drivers Are Put on a Course for Safety

Invite as many teenagers as you can, give them the keys to a couple of German sport sedans and encourage them to whip around at neck-snapping speeds.

About 170 young drivers were more than glad to oblige Saturday, when they gathered for a safe-driving class in the parking lot of Wild Rivers water park in Irvine.

The free course, which continues today, is the brainchild of former race car driver Jeff Payne, who was alarmed by the minimal training American teenage drivers receive before obtaining a license.”No parent would give his child a loaded gun and say, ‘Go and have fun,’ ” said Payne, who founded Driver’s Edge in Las Vegas last year. “But we don’t think twice about giving them the keys to a car.”

The nonprofit group teaches novice drivers how to react in panic situations: swerving to avoid objects or people, properly using anti-lock brakes and controlling skids.

Professional drivers get in the cars with the teenagers and take them through the exercises that give them a feel for the simple, yet critical skills needed to avoid accidents.

The 4 1/2-hour classes take place on a closed course set up with traffic cones. The four BMWs and three Camaros are provided by Bridgestone/Firestone, one of the program sponsors.

About 70 youngsters attended the morning session in Irvine, 100 others came for the afternoon class.

The parking lot was a swirl of flying orange cones, screeching tires and plumes of burning rubber as the students negotiated the course and slowly grasped how 3,500 pounds of steel reacts when pushed to the limit.

“You don’t want it to be that the first time they encounter something like this is out there in the real world,” Payne said. “A small mistake can turn deadly.”

It was a driving mistake that forever changed Ashley Biersach’s life. The Las Vegas high-schooler and four friends were returning to campus from a lunch break last year when the driver lost control on a curvy road and hit a pole. Their Ford Thunderbird split in half, according to police, killing the driver and front-seat passenger.

“I had to watch the two best friends in my whole life die,” a teary Ashley told the group assembled in Irvine before they headed out to the cars. The 17-year-old former cheerleader has had her right foot amputated and the bones in her lower body are held together with metal spikes.

“You think it can’t happen to you, but it can,” said Ashley, who has become a speaker for Driver’s Edge. “I am here and it is reality.”

Stephanie Bessette, 16, of Rosamond was in the audience wiping tears with the sleeve of her sweatshirt. “I have a friend who died in a car accident,” she later said. Her friend was thrown out of the car and her injuries were “so bad her body had to be cremated.”

In 2001, more than 8,000 drivers ages 15 to 20 were involved in fatal collisions nationwide, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Last week, three teenagers died near Stanton when the driver lost control and hit a pole.

Traffic officials say it is a combination of hubris and a lack of training.

“It seems they have two skills: speed and stop,” said Irvine police investigator Rolf Parkes who was watching Saturday’s class.

A few yards away, Stephanie was just completing the anti-lock brake exercise under the watchful eyes of her parents and younger brother.

“That felt great,” said Stephanie, who got her permit three months ago. “It feels kind of crazy at first, but I felt more relaxed once I got into it.... This could save my life someday.”