Having rain in the forecast is sometimes a good thing when teens are taking a defensive driving course like the one the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course offers. It just adds one of the elements of driving conditions that teenagers should be prepared for as they learn to drive, especially defensively.

This defensive driving course is for both parents and teens and it can be quite an eye opener, not only for the new teen drivers but for the experienced parent as well. Teen drivers and their parents are put through the paces with such drills as braking when the roads are wet, changing lanes in an emergency and even how to get out of a skid. For the skid drills, there are special cars that are purposely set up to skid so that the teens can learn what it feels like, the panicky feeling they get when it happens and how to push past all that and come out of the skid safely as possible.

When parents don’t have as much time as they should to teach their teens practical on-the-road driving, this defensive driving course can help fill in some blanks. After all, parents are not likely going to allow their teens to skid or drive in the rain in the family car! However, with the course, the instructors want teens to screw up because it will be in a controlled course and they will learn from the mistakes as well as that of others too.

Parents don’t know everything, although they may pretend that they do with their teenagers. So this defensive driving course is a definite eye opener for both parties. Teenagers will have to deal with situations that the parents will never think of, which can be a bit disconcerting for the grown-ups. In a country where as many as 25-30 teens die every day due to vehicle accidents, adding a driving test to your “resume” is a smart move.

While teens crave the independence that the open road will bring, they will not likely think about any potential road hazards they may encounter. They are thinking about switching the CD in the car or finding the windshield wiper switch. The problem is that one small distraction could cause a situation where an accident can occur. With the defensive driving course, hopefully those lessons will kick in instinctively for teens and avert a disaster.

That is the whole purpose for the defensive driving course. It is but another tool of many in the quest to build a safe teenage driving population. The only thing that would be better is making driver’s education a mandatory class once again in school so that each and every teen will have an equal opportunity to learn safe driving habits.