Race car instructor heads program to better teen drivers, help them avoid accidents

Source: Detroit Free PressJuly 24--Matt Jaskol has raced a bunch of cars and won plenty of trophies including a Formula BMW event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2004.self storageSo you'd think he easily could negotiate city side streets and freeways in everyday driving conditions without making mistakes, right?Not so fast. The 28-year-old racing instructor from Las Vegas admits his track racing skills somewhat outmatch his public road manners."To be 100% honest, I've found out how poor a driver I was on freeways at times," said Jaskol, who has raced shifter karts, sports cars, stock cars and Indy Lights single-seaters the past 15 years. "My skills on the track were fine, but how easily I was distracted by texting or talking on my phone was a real eye-opener. I think I was a little bit arrogant and knew it all."On Saturday and Sunday, Jaskol will head a free Bridgestone Teens Drive Smart Driving Experience in the parking lot of the Palace, where hundreds of local young drivers ages 15 to 21 will get a taste of accident avoidance techniques, emergency braking methods and vehicle dynamics.It's all aimed at making them better, wiser drivers and hopefully keeping them out of harm's way on the road.Jaskol, who also coaches high-performance driving in a fleet of Ferraris at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, will drill into the teens situation awareness -- knowing what is going on around them on the road."I've been guilty of distracted driving," Jaskol said. "I've had some extreme near-misses. The only thing that saved me was my seat time. I want to share my story and just emphasize to the teens that their lives can be taken at any time ... that you have to be on high alert."Jaskol, who will coach the teens in new BMWs they'll get to handle during the program, won't only preach about tweeting or texting on the phone in this ever-increasing social media age."I think kids already know the dangers," Jaskol said. "What they must take aw迷你倉y from the program is that people around them on the roads are also texting and could easily slam into them in a heartbeat. Situation awareness is the key to the whole learning process."Former Livonia police officer Scott Paschen will be at the Palace on Sunday with his 15-year-old daughter, Madison, a sophomore at Churchill High in Livonia.Madison, who got her driver's permit in June, will participate in classroom instruction with other teens and then learn emergency braking techniques and other driving principles on a skid pad in the Palace parking lot."Madison is pretty good on the roads and I'm proud of her, but she's going to learn a lot more on Sunday," said Paschen, 46, who spent 25 years as a cop in Livonia. "Some of my friends say, 'Oh, the kids are going to crash before they get it.' That's crazy. Kids should not have to crash to learn the consequences. A program like Drive Smart can go a long way in changing that."Tailgating, weaving in and out of traffic, speeding, blowing through red lights -- Paschen has seen it all over the years on patrol. Now texting, tweeting and talking on the phone has made negotiating our roads more dangerous.The Teens Drive Smart program also will stop in Chicago, Minneapolis and Denver during the summer.Jaskol wants the teens to have fun with the program and leave smarter drivers."This won't be a lecture," said Jaskol, who was selected by Red Bull for the F1 Drivers Search in 2003. "I've been an idiot on the road. What I want to do is share my story with them and reinforce situation awareness at the very least. If they leave remembering to constantly be scanning what's going on around them, checking their mirrors and gauges, that will be huge."Contact Mike Brudenell: mbrudenell@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mikebrudenell.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Detroit Free Press Visit the Detroit Free Press at www.freep.com Distributed by MCT Information Services文件倉