Teen driving school coming to Hoover Met Aug. 11, Oct. 27

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The Heart of Dixie chapter of the BMW Car Club of America is offering a driving school for teenagers and young adults at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium to help prepare them for driving hazards and challenges.

The one-day event is offered periodically and next will be held on Sunday, Aug. 11, and again on Oct. 27, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.

The Tire Rack Street Survival school is open to drivers ages 15 to 21 with either a driver’s license or permit. School organizers prefer that participants have at least 25 hours of driving experience, said Jack Joyner, the event coordinator.

The school includes both classroom presentations and hands-on instruction with teens behind the wheel in the vehicle in which they most often will be driving.

Students will be taught emergency braking and skid control (including on wet pavement), how to control proper braking and how to avoid accidents entirely, Joyner said. They also will be shown a live detonation of an airbag to reinforce proper hand placement on the steering wheel, he said.

The cost is $95 per student. Some insurance companies offer discounts to graduates of the program.

The Tire Rack Street Survival school is in its 16th year nationally and has trained more than 25,000 drivers, according to the BMW Car Club of America. Michelin North America, for the ninth year, is supporting the program by providing funding to rent the pavement on which the schools are conducted.

Vehicle crashes are the leading killer of American youth ages 15-20, with more than 5,000 teens involved in a fatal crash each year and an additional 196,000 injured, according to the car club. Simple driving errors that are avoidable but common among inexperienced teens cause the majority of fatal accidents, the club says.

Registration forms and more information can be found at streetsurvival.org.