Skid School Teen Driver Program - Information For Parents of Teen Drivers

As an experienced driver, you have a keen understanding of how, in an instant, a regular day of driving can turn into the kind of moment that changes your entire life, and possibly that of others as well. When you're 16, however, that experience just isn't there. At that age, it's nearly impossible to focus on safe driving because you're focused on the newfound freedom and independence having a license brings. We want to change that attitude. Skidschool is designed to give parents peace of mind to know that their son or daughter has the skills and attitude it takes to be a safe and responsible driver through a fun hands-on, real life program that teens respond to.

Our passion for the teen programs is sincere and immense for two reasons: teens have the highest accident rates of any age group, and we believe that we can reverse the trend. We know we are making a difference already because of both statistical and anecdotal evidence. First year drivers have a 43% accident rate with a steady decline in that rate with each year of driving experience. The kind of experience that it takes to recognize and avoid serious accidents can often takes years to develop which is why we have structured our program around giving them the experience they need in an intense 4 1⁄2 hours. A Co-operative insurance study of teens we trained since 1997 shows that their accident rates are lowered significantly in comparison with the national average.

Through our unique combination of hands-on training and focused talks we have been able to bring new drivers accident rates to the same level as that of experienced drivers, and we want to do the same for your teen. Talk to any parent who has sent their son or daughter or participated in the program themselves and you will hear that this program is about experience: the experience of understanding what a car is truly capable of; the experience of a team of instructors who collectively have thousands of hours on the race track and several national titles; and most importantly, the experience of taking control of each student's ability to handle the vehicle, themselves, and the situations that may arise when they are on the road.

In 1998, Stevens Advanced Driver Training started our teen program in Massachusetts and trained 58 teens. Nine years later, with the help of Co-operative Insurance of Middlebury, Vermont, Lovering Volvo of Concord, New Hampshire, and the Massachusetts Automobile Dealers Charitable Foundation, we trained more than 3,000 teens in New England in 2007 alone. Despite our tremendous growth, we are only making a dent in the staggering rates of teen car crashes, and in the years to come, we will continue to create more ways to train as many teen drivers as possible.