A triple-A crash course on safe driving
KATHY RENWALD FOR THE TORONTO STAR
Drivers at BMW driver training program at Downsview Park learn how to keep a vehicle under control and handle it when it’s out of control.
"Stop. Stop! STOP!"
With each "stop," Kelly Williams's voice notches up an octave. She's on a two-way radio watching students try to correct understeer and oversteer at BMW's Advanced II Driver Training program at Downsview Park in Toronto.
Been on the Tilt-A-Whirl on a midway? It's a little like oversteer. As my BMW 335i does graceful 360s on a watered-down track, I catch glimpses of a field in the distance, of a building, of the pylons in front. And that, my friend, is the problem.
"Vision, vision, vision, that is what all these exercises will be about," says driving instructor Robin Buck.
He and Williams, both with long credentials in racing and teaching, are guiding 20 squirmy students through the daylong course at Downsview Park in Toronto.
The full-day Advanced II Driver Training costs $495. Courses at Downsview usually sell out early in the season. More information on the courses is at the bmw.ca website under driver training.
The day starts, sensibly, with a classroom session. Since some students have arrived in Porsche 911 Turbos, this decompression time with pencil and paper is wise.
"What I see on the roads scares me, and I'm a race car driver," Buck says as he rattles off statistics on a car's ability to stop at various speeds.
It is one thing to see those numbers on a chart, but quite a different experience to see it demonstrated.
"Okay, I want you to stand along the edge of the course where you think this car will stop when I lock up the brakes," Williams asks us greenhorns in the morning session.
We all misjudge it. The track has been watered down, she stomps on the brakes, and the car goes sailing by, taillights mocking our assumptions.
We won't forget that when we're driving in the rain or snow on the highway, and cars are still tailgating at 100 to 120 km/h.
Although the full-day course is marketed as "performance" driving, it is really a solid introduction to the skills we all need to be safer drivers.
"How many of you play golf?" Williams asks. A lot of hands go up. "How many of you take lessons?" A lot of hands go up. "When was the last time you took a driving lesson?" No hands go up.
"You're driving a 3,000-pound vehicle, maybe 5,000 pounds if it's an SUV. Don't you think that takes skill?" Williams asks.
For most people, it will be 64 years between drivers' tests, at age 16 and age 80. That stat startles Barry Lapointe, a pilot and owner of Kelowna Flightcraft.
"I go for recurrent training every year, sometimes every six months on certain aircraft." He won the driver's training course at a fundraiser and is focusing intently on the lessons.
"I'm not looking far enough ahead, I'm not looking far enough ahead," he repeats as we compare performance notes halfway through the day.
A foundation of BMW Driver Training, which started in 1977 in Germany and is now taught around the world, is the three As:
Attitude: keep it in check.
Aptitude: driving is a skill, so you have to keep learning.
Awareness: avoid zoning out, going on autopilot or multi-tasking while driving.
"A car has a character and you have to read it," Buck says as he goes over the basics of proper seating position.
Hands at 9 and 3, this gives better control of the wheel and reduces likelihood of airbag injuries.
Elbows should have a slight bend and legs should be slightly bent to assure maximum power when braking and minimizing impact injuries in an accident.
Ten inches is the recommended distance from the chest to the steering wheel – again, to keep your distance from airbag deployment.
As we wait in the cars for the morning session, Buck and Williams check everyone's driving position.
"Headrests no lower than top of the ears?" Check. "Seatbelt"? Check.
"Side mirrors adjusted properly?" Check.
Yes, we got drilled on the mirrors, too. You should not see the side of your car until you lean a head's width to the left or right. A wider angle adjustment of the mirrors reduces blind spots.
"Don't ride in other driver's blind spots," Buck barks (basically, when you're approaching another vehicle from behind and side, your car's nose shouldn't pass the other car's rear bumper). "And remember, every lane change you make increases your accident exposure."
Throughout the day, the lessons I learned in the classroom simmer in the background – and they do the same now in my everyday driving.
"Keep your eyes up, look farther ahead, look where you want to go." Important on the track; maybe a lifesaver on the road.
Most of us do anything possible to avoid skidding. We don't really know what understeer does – you are turning but the car is going straight ahead. This is a more dominant characteristic of front-wheel-drive cars. Fewer of us have experienced oversteer, that is, when the rear end kicks out or wants to pass the front end – a more dominant characteristic of rear-wheel drive.
At BMW Driver Training, we got to wallow in both conditions on a wet track. One of the keys is looking where you want to go. You start to get the hang of it pretty quickly in understeer mode, but oversteer was a test of nerves for me.
My eyes were bouncing like pinballs – the field, the building, the pylons, as the back end of the car spun out like crack-the-whip.
These drills were practised with both the anti-lock brakes (ABS) and dynamic stability control systems (DSC) disabled. In our final run, both systems were turned back on and dramatically illustrated how much these systems improve a car's handling.
But in the back of my mind from the classroom: "It doesn't matter how safe your car is, it's you, the driver."
Another nerve tester came in the afternoon session. At speeds of 45, 50 and 60 km/h, we make last-second lane changes to avoid hitting a pylon or, as Buck called it, "killing Granny".
The key again is vision, looking farther down the road because your peripheral vision will pick up the edges of the road, or in the case of the school, the pylons marking the lanes.
If you are looking at "Granny," you've likely flattened her, and I am ashamed to say how many I grazed.
"Most of us think we are better drivers than we are," consoles Williams.
I ask Buck for a critique.
"Vision, vision, vision, and you're not alone. Ninety-nine per cent of the drivers out on the roads need to improve upon their vision skills, i.e., eye movement, eye placement and visual tracking," he says. "Knowing the difference between a glance and a stare, and what is relevant and what is not. If we don't know what to do and when to do it, we really are just driving by the seat of our pants."
When I left Downsview, I took a rural route home to Hamilton because the 401 was tied up after an accident. It gave me time to think (but still focus on driving!)
In the classroom, Buck had said one of the most dangerous places to stop was the side of a highway. I learned the 401 was backed up because a man was killed changing a tire.
The BMW driving school was fun and challenging, but each lesson was a reminder that the consequences of unskilled driving and questionable choices are devastating.
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