Street Survival is a program created by the BMWCCA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-for-profit, to bring accident avoidance skills to new drivers across the country. Automobile accidents are the leading cause of death among 13 to 19-year-olds in the U.S. – more than from drugs, guns, and violent crimes COMBINED! And a whopping 62% of all teenage automobile passenger deaths occurred in vehicles driven by another teen. Teaching both passive and active accident-avoidance skills, at a time when they are developing their driving habits, will help to keep these students safe throughout their driving careers.
When the first on-course event kicked off around 9am, the students were quickly awakened and their early-morning frowns developed into wide-eyed grins. Throughout the day, in addition to classroom instruction, the students participated in a variety of car-control exercises. These included emergency braking, lane-change maneuvers, wet skidpad, wheel-off-pavement recovery, and a dynamic-handling course. Anthony Magagnoli says, “By learning the limits of their cars, how their inputs affect the balance of the vehicle, and how to recover from over or understeer, these students are learning what to do in a panic situation so that, when they are threatened with these situations on the road, they will simply be able to react.”
Anthony Magagnoli has been instructing for Tire Rack Street Survival since 2004. As a high-performance driving and racing instructor, as well as a race car driver and the Driving Leader of the Toyota / UC LeMons race team, he says that he enjoys the immense difference he feels that he is able to make in the lives of the students. “I think back to an accident that I had when I was 17. I was lucky enough to be unhurt, but it would have been completely avoidable if I had been taught, back then, the skills that we are teaching today. I began my driver training shortly thereafter and have remained accident-free since.”
Anthony’s strong belief in the importance of driver training has compelled him to team up with the Street Survival program as his charity of choice as he and his friend and car-owner/builder, Kevin Kreisa, promote teen driver safety through their entry in the 2010 Cannonball One Lap of America. The One Lap of America was spawned from the historic Cannonball Run and takes competitors on a 3500 mile loop around the country. Spanning from April 30th to May 8th, they will stop at racetracks along the way to hold competitive time-trials. Anthony and Kevin are raising money and awareness for Street Survival through their website, DTROneLap.com, and this Street Survival School was their official unveiling of their car.
University of Cincinnati student and Toyota LeMons member, Darvell Powell, stated the following about his experience in the Tire Rack Street Survival School, “The class was a very important experience for me, as it gave me real-world emergency driving experience in the vehicle that I drive everyday so that I will be better prepared to avoid accidents in the future. I recommend that others take this class to improve their knowledge and skills in vehicle control and become better drivers.”
Local media took notice of the school and WLWT News Channel 5 covered the Street Survival School in their evening news. You can see that video here:
Street Survival Coverage on WLWT News from Anthony Magagnoli on Vimeo.
29 local students attended the school on March 20th. There were 79 Street Survival schools held nation-wide in 2009, all on a volunteer-basis, with hopes to expand that number this year. For more information about the Tire Rack Street Survival program, you can visit www.StreetSurvival.org.
