KeyBank is hosting a free program at Owens Community College to help keep teen drivers safe. The Safe Teen Driving program will return to Toledo for the second consecutive year to teach teenagers advanced defensive driving skills.

“Key likes to invest in programs that help communities and help people thrive and we feel this program can help teens thrive by teaching them some driving skills that normal drivers’ education doesn’t address,” KeyBank Public Relations Manager of Great Lakes Region Dan Davis said. “A lot of experts believe that better training is one of the solutions to get a better chance at surviving out on the roads. That’s what this program is all about.”

Davis said that according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, car accidents are the leading cause of death for kids between the ages of 15 and 20 years old. That is precisely the reason the company began the program two years ago with a one-day affair in Columbus. Since then, it has grown to a 14-day event taking place in cities throughout Ohio and Indiana.

Partnering with KeyBank is the Mid-Ohio School, to help teach teenagers learn different advanced techniques to help them on the road. Mid-Ohio School is based in Lexington, Ohio and has graduated more than 13,000 teenagers from the Safe Teen Driving program in the past two years.

The first lesson is an emergency lane change maneuver, which simulates a situation similar to if a person were to quickly enter the road in front of a moving car. It teaches the students not just to brake but how to best take evasive maneuvers.

The second situation is a wet-braking exercise. That simulation often introduces teenagers to their first experience feeling a vehicle’s anti-lock brakes.

The final exercise calls for each student to enter the Mid-Ohio skid car to safely practice situations in which a car spins out and how to handle that circumstance.

The program will take place July 20-21 at 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 12:15 p.m. and 2 p.m.

For more information on the program, visit www.KeyToSafeTeenDriving.com.

Tags: KeyBank, National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, Owens Community College, teens

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 17th, 2011 at 11:42 am and is filed under Community, Education, Transportation.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.