Powell SkillDriving

What is Skilldriving? Driving very well – all the time.

Most everyone can drive a car, but can they do it well?

At Powell Skilldriving, we understand that driving is a divided attention task. Along with the task of driving a car, we try to do any number of additional things while behind the wheel. So its our job to train your basic driving capability to a high level of skill. And make it fun as well!

Eight out of 10 crashes involve drivers who are drowsy, chatting on a cell phone, applying makeup or otherwise distracted from the road ahead, according to a U.S government study that videotaped people behind the wheel.

Reaching for a moving object while driving increased the risk of a crash by nine times, while reading or applying makeup from behind the wheel enhanced the risk by three times. Dialing a cell phone, meanwhile, increased the risk of a crash by nearly three times, researchers found.

The study "illustrates the potentially dire consequences that can occur while driving distracted or drowsy. It's crucial that drivers always be alert when on the road," said Jacqueline Glassman, acting administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Others say distraction takes many forms in our multi-tasking-obsessed society, with many drivers eating fast food, leafing through the morning newspaper or inserting CDs into their stereo system.

“How you sit and where you look” the Powell SkillDriving credo.

It’s all about seating and seeing. If you don’t sit properly, you will either be unable to reach the pedals or the steering wheel to brake or steer effectively. Or sit too close and restrict effective movement. For those who drive for their livelihood, it’s easy to fall into the “ lazyboy” position, slouched down; poor posture leads to back pain.

Looking at least 30 seconds ahead in important defensively; looking in the direction you want to go, not necessarily the direction the car is pointed is critical in skid control. There is a link to seating position and the stability the body, and head movement, to visual tracking and car control. The Powell Skid Car training really helps students understand and retain important SkillDriving principles. And Skid car is a blast!

Powell SkillDriver Training

A race car driver didn’t get to be good just by driving fast. Race drivers started slowly and worked their way up, gradually and with confidence in the skills they honed along the way. The Powell SkillDriving training approach is to start with the basics and add more tasks as the skill becomes proficient - a building block approach. Training is conducted in an enclosed area; no need to worry about the other guy right now, just learning to get it right is the main concern.

MOST DRIVERS WERE DRIVING PROPERLY WHEN KILLED

So what about apparent driver actions in fatal collisions? By far the greatest number of drivers were “driving properly”! Not much joy here! How about safety equipment used? Well finally, the statistics support conventional wisdom that the greatest number of fatalities is caused by ejection from the car. About half the drivers killed were not using safety belts. But wait! The other half was using safety belts.

Searching the MTO data base for statistics that provide some level of comfort, we learn further that there was no apparent vehicle defect in almost all fatal collisions. Over a third of fatal collisions involved cars model year 1987 and earlier. Most cars were insured – that’s good – and most were driven by males. The greatest risk age groups are 25-34 and 35-44, and even the 45-54 age group are at the same level of risk for fatalities, when compared to 20 year olds.

RESPECT & DISCIPLINE:

Training improves driver confidence, and self respect - understanding of various driver actions regarding the vehicle. Our graduates have renewed respect fort the driving task – everything from vehicle circle checks and under-hood fluid levels, to driver’s hand position on the steering wheel, and cockpit drills. This respect leads to discipline for the driving task, and we hope, discipline to deal with other drivers. Because no matter what happens you really need to watch out for the other guy…and don’t forget, statistics suggest … .it is a guy