Newswise — What's so hard about winter driving? Ask anyone from the Snowbelt. Losing control tops the list, whether it's swerving into a tree to avoid a deer, skidding into the garbage truck, or desperately steering straight while your vehicle follows its bliss down into a ditch.
Over the years, Mark Osborne, a professional test driver at Michigan Technological University, has observed the rest of us get into many such preventable scrapes. So about 10 years ago, he created the Winter Driving School to teach the public how to drive in snow and ice.
The school is based at Michigan Tech's Keweenaw Research Center, which provides winter vehicle testing services for the military and for industry. It's also home to the foremost winter-driving track in the Midwest, located in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Participants spend the first couple hours in the classroom. Then, they spend the rest of the day behind the wheel. Driving a variety of late-model vehicles owned by the school, they learn first-hand how to brake on ice and navigate the twisting, snow-covered track.
"Most people seem to love it," Osborne says. "I got a call last week from a guy who took the course a few years ago, and he was still really happy about what he'd learned."
The cost of instruction is about $100, way less than the deductible on most collision insurance policies. All licensed drivers are welcome, and Osborne is also accepting teens with driving permits if they are accompanied by a parent or guardian who has a driver's license.
The Winter Driving School is held on Saturdays starting in January and continues until the snow melts. For more information, visit http://www.mtukrc.org/school.htm or call the Keweenaw Research Center at 906-487-2750.
RSS