Hands-On Driving Course Gives Teens Experience

By Jennifer Pierce, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- With prom season underway and summer break not far behind metro teens are jumping behind the wheel. Statistics show car accidents are the number one killer of young people, so the pros are rolling into Oklahoma City to help teens be better drivers.

This is not your typical driver's education class.

"The whole point of Driver's Edge is to give young drivers a wake-up call to how serious driving really is," said Jeff Payne, the Driver's Edge Founder.

Payne brought in pro-drivers to teach teens real-life, on-the-road scenarios.

The course puts teens behind the wheel. They're taken through panic braking exercises, evasive lane maneuvers and a skid exercise where they learn what happens to a vehicle when it loses traction.

They're learning how to avoid an accident.

"The bottom line is none of us are ever taught how to drive just taught how to pass the test," Payne said.

So this course gives teens practice and experience.

"It was really icy on the ground and my brakes locked up and spun out of control," said teen driver Nate Harrell.

Like Harrell, most of these young drivers have been in some kind of accident. Thousands of teens are injured or killed every day on the roads.

"Most kids, they don't know what to do in a situation like this," Harrell said. "They just freak out and just slam on the brakes or lose their mind or whatever."

"The number one cause of teen accidents is inexperience and distracted driving," the Driver's Edge Founder said.

But after this course, these teens are steering in the right direction, a relief for a mom, whose daughter will soon be driving on her own.

"That time is coming soon. I just hope she takes in what she learns here and uses it later on," said parent Debbie Statser.

Learn more about Driver's Edge.