Collision Avoidance Training Program Begins in Nashville

A new training program hopes to reduce the number of Nashville teenagers in automobile accidents.

A disproportionate number of adolescent drivers end up in wrecks. 10 Nashville teenagers have died in auto accidents so far this year. So the Tennessee Regional Safety Council is teaming with Partners for Highway Safety to offer teens a course in avoiding collisions. Most of the 12-hour program is spent in the car, practicing things such as how to get out of the way of reckless drivers or recover from skids.

Safety Council director Andrew Williams says that experience is key to preventing wrecks.

“The time to learn how to deal with that isn’t in that panic situation where life and death are at risk. The time to learn that is in a controlled environment with a certified instructor where you get to experience it over and over until it becomes second nature to you so when it does take place on the highway it’s second nature and it just happens. That’s how we save those lives.”

Collision Avoidance Training is open to anyone in Metro between the ages of 15 and 19. Several traffic court judges have said they’ll order repeat offenders to the program instead of the usual defensive driving course. The Safety Council hopes to eventually expand the program throughout the state.

(Registration information can be found at http://safetycounciltn.org )