Tire Rack Inc. will continue to bring Tire Rack Street Survival, a national, nonprofit advanced teen safe driving program, to communities in 2016. The program is beginning its 14th year with new growth goals.
In 2015, Tire Rack Street Survival taught 2,500 students in more than 25 cities the hands-on skills they need to stay safe on the road. As the program enters its 14th year, the participation goals are even higher.
“Over the past three years, we have successfully hosted at least 100 teen driving classes per year in locations throughout the United States and Canada,” says Bill Wade, national program manager of Tire Rack Street Survival. “As we kick off our 14th year, we’re eager to reach a second generation of drivers who face new distractions behind the wheel that either didn’t exist or weren’t as pervasive 14 years ago.”
Tire Rack Street Survival teaches licensed drivers between the ages of 15 and 21 important, potentially life-saving skills such as how to maneuver through a skid and how to avoid distractions while driving. In many classes, students get to sit behind the wheel of a semi-truck to experience the vehicle’s significant blind spots for themselves.
Because students use their own vehicles during the program, they also learn how to check the air pressure of their tires, check the oil level and perform other routine maintenance to learn about the responsibility that comes with driving a vehicle. Since 2002, more than 13,000 young drivers have graduated from the program.
“To prepare young drivers for real-world traffic situations, Tire Rack Street Survival goes miles beyond the classroom driver’s education that students complete as a requirement to get their driver’s license,” says Matt Edmonds, vice president of Tire Rack.
“Our belief has always been that safe driving techniques are most effectively learned from the driver’s seat, and that’s where this program shines. For 2016, we will bring Tire Rack Street Survival to even more communities across the country. A teen driver equipped with the skills to anticipate and manage today’s on-the-road challenges will ultimately benefit everyone.”
Teens continue to have the highest crash rate of any group in the United States. About 963,000 drivers age 16-19 were involved in police-reported crashes in 2013 (the most recently available data), resulting in 383,000 injuries and 2,865 deaths.
In addition to hosting its 800th class in 2015, Tire Rack Street Survival also had its biggest weekend ever last year, with eight schools occurring on the same weekend across the country. In 2016, Tire Rack Street Survival will continue to grow with a target of 130 classes, added locations and additional instructors, including emergency first-responders.
For more information and a schedule of upcoming Tire Rack Street Survival programs taking place in various locations across the country, visit www.streetsurvival.org.
Tire Rack, family-owned and headquartered in South Bend, Indiana, is America’s largest independent tire tester and consumer-direct source for tires, wheels and performance accessories. For more information, visit www.tirerack.com.
