Beverly High junior Hannah Moffie was behind the wheel in a rainy parking lot full of cones.
The driving instructor sitting next to her told her to get ready.
"On this one, I'm going to tell you to floor it," Jody Fischer of In Control Advanced Driver Training said. "Don't get intimidated."
At the signal, Moffie slammed on the gas and sped toward the cones at 45 miles per hour.
"Keep going," Fischer told her. She got up to 45. Then 50.
"Cruise," Fisher said, as Moffie made a hard right and whipped around the first cone. The car's back end spun out on the wet road as she made a hard left around the next cone.
"No braking," Fisher said. She fishtailed back and forth through the slalom course and came to a stop at the end.
"See how you got your rhythm," Fischer said. She compared the drill to skiing and told Moffie to focus not on the cone in front of her, but the one coming up.
"You're not going to come on a downhill and wait until you're right at the tree to turn," she said. "The car is going to go where your eye is looking. If you see something you don't want to hit, your immediate reaction should be not to look at it. Look for your escape route."
Moffie, who got her license just over a month ago, was one of 17 Beverly High School students who signed up for a driver safety training course. During the four-hour class, kids sped around an industrial parking lot in North Andover, reaching highway speeds to simulate an emergency lane change and panic stops, and slamming on their brakes while behind an instructor's car to learn about the danger of tailgating.
"In driving school, they say you should go in the direction of the skid, but I really didn't know what it meant," junior Brenna Bailey said. "If you ever get in a bad situation, this will help."
Most insurance agencies agree and offer a 5 percent to 15 percent discount on car insurance to anyone who takes it. Founder Brandon Bogart said about 70 percent of the people who take the course are high school students, but he also gets a lot of corporate drivers, and it's open to everybody.
In a combination of classroom discussions and intense hands-on driving experiences, the program prepares people for emergency situations and helps people understand the connection between speed and maintaining control of the car. In this case, it's a 2008 Toyota Camry — American's most popular sedan.
Driving to distraction
The four-hour class is about $300, and a portion of the cost for the students was paid for by the Beverly Rotary Club.
"We really wanted to get this jump started in Beverly," Rotary member Rich Jones said.
As part of Rotary President Frank Kinzie's initiative to promote safe driving, Jones' business Leslie Ray Insurance and three other insurance agencies pooled together $10,000 to raise awareness about the program, and offer scholarships to kids who want to take the class. Jones said he hopes about 200 to 300 students will eventually go through it.
To sign up, contact high school teacher Anne Flaherty — who participated along with the students.
"I think if parents know more about this program, we'll have more kids," Flaherty said. "Kids are so busy texting and doing other things while they're on the road."
True enough, when Bogart asked how many kids have driven while texting, all hands went up.
When he asked them to name the most common cause of crashes in the country, they confidently responded that it was talking on cell phones.
Surprisingly, they were wrong. But not surprisingly, it's tailgating, which accounts for 76 percent of all accidents. Most people, Bogart said, drive about 50 feet behind the car in front of them.
As part of a drill, instructors tied a cone 50 feet from their bumper. Students flanked them on both sides and when the instructor said "Go" into a walkie-talkie, they all gunned it to 60 miles per hour across the parking lot. Students tried to stay even with the cone as their friends, "the hecklers," sat in the back talking, singing and trying to distract them.
Suddenly, the instructor slammed on the brakes, and the students had to try to stop behind the car. None of them did.
Depending on where they stopped, their accident was rated as safe, a fender bender, an ambulance ride or a hearse ride. Most of them would have been in critical condition or dead.
"It shows them the reaction time," Bogart said. The kids got the picture that 50 feet is too close. Hopefully, it's a lesson they'll remember on the road, along with the other experiences.
Bailey said if she ever is in an accident, she thinks she'll react better, because she'll know how to control a skid or sudden stop.
"It's good for when winter comes," she said. "It helps you stay calm."
Winter driving tips
Brandon Bogart, founder of In Control Advanced Driver Training, shares some important advice for snowy weather:
Slow down.
Get good tires. They're the only connection between your car and the road. All-season tires are no substitute for snow tires. They're good for most bad weather, but not designed with New England winters in mind.
Four-wheel drive and all-wheel drive don't mean you can speed. The extra power helps you accelerate, so if you get stuck in the snow or mud you can get unstuck. But it doesn't help you slow down when it's snowing.
There is no way to learn to drive on ice. It's impossible. There's zero traction, so all you can do is slide and try to keep your wheel straight and the brakes on, and treat it like a skid when you get off the slippery patch. Or better yet, stay home when the weather's that bad.
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