I have some experience in crashing after participating
in a performance driving school(Skip Barber 2-Day). It
happened about a week after the school on a the first
really rainy day of the year. I was not speeding,
actually going slower than the posted limit when this
happened. A p/u truck driving in front of me made an
erratic stop and I was forced to stop quickly. I
wasn't tailgating as I would have munched pretty bad
if I had been. It was very slick piece of road that
doesn't get driven on that often. My car doesn't have
ABS and therefore I went into lock. I was back far
enough that I could see that there was no oncoming
trafic and I realized that I had slid too far and
wasn't getting enough traction trying to modulate the
brakes to keep from hitting him in the rear so I
decided to gett off the brakes and steer to the left
of him since there was nothing to go to aon the right.
I tried to turn into the open cross street that teed
into the street I was on but as I got around him and
almost made it past he turned into me hard. I kept
control of the car through the hit and safely rolled
it off the pavement into a dirt lot, despite the
suspension getting obviously tweaked by the hit. I
thought about what happened and kind of find it
humorous that only a week before getting into that
accident I went to a driving school. But I never would
have been able to process all of that input and
minimize the amount of damage without the increased
skill and ability to remain calm and not panic in a
situation such as this. I was able to react quickly to
the slide, make an almost successful emergency lane
change and properly guide the car off the road. All
without causing myself or the other person any injury
and minimizing the damage to my car and his. As stated
before the study doesn't take into account who's at
fault in the accident nor does it assess whether the
damage, personal or mechanical, was minimized due to
the improved reactions of the advanced driver.
You learn in driving schools like Skip Barber that
accidents are sometimes unavoidable, it's how you
react to those accidents that makes a difference.
Put me against a "normal" driver on a wet skid pad and
let's see who controls the car better when they yank
the e-brake. I can do it in a pickup with bald rear
tires, can a "normal" driver?
Additionally, back in '74 they didn't have cell phones
or as many distractions to driving as they do now.
I also agree that road racing or it's very distant
cousin, the street school, don't provide you with the
same situations as what you find on the highways.
There everyone is focused and prepared mentally for
the worst to happen(most of the time). I have never
been scared out on the track, even when I'm right on
the tail of someone while we're flying through a
corner. But I have been scared plenty out in "normal"
traffic. And there you have the benefit of blinkers,
traffic signals and speed limits. Very few accidents
ever happen at the street school, and on the rare
occasion it only involves one car, not muli-car
pile-ups like we have on the freeways. I wonder why?
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