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As students wait in a red Camaro to negotiate the wet course, another student in a white Saturn puts the car into an intentional slide during the Driver's Edge course in the parking lot of Sunset Station. The course teaches drivers to handle unusual situations.
Photo by Steve Andrascik.
| Sunday, June 23, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal ROAD WARRIOR: Race car driver turns attention to teens
Jeff Payne has taught Tom Cruise and a host of other actors, corporate executives and counterterrorism specialists to drive. Now he wants to teach the nation's teen-agers. Payne, who has lived in Las Vegas for more than a decade, has earned his living racing and teaching the well-heeled or well-known to race or drive under extreme conditions. At one point, he tutored Cruise on how to handle a race car for his role in "Days of Thunder" (certainly he wouldn't be bragging if he had been Cruise's acting coach). Over the past five years, though, Payne also has worked on a way to broaden his audience. He believes teen drivers, who statistics show are 20 times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident than older drivers, could benefit from learning some of the same techniques he shares with his high-end clients. He has developed a course, Driver's Edge, and formed a nonprofit organization he hopes will allow him to bring it to the masses. "No one is taught to drive, they're taught to pass a test," Payne said. "No one would give their kid a loaded gun. But parents don't think twice about tossing them the keys to the car." Payne's course, which got its first public vetting Thursday and Friday in the Sunset Station parking lot, is based on the premise that it's best to learn by doing. His method includes simulating several potentially life-threatening situations in a controlled environment, which the teens experience with a highly trained instructor at their side. "Some parents say, `I'm not going to let race car drivers teach my kid, you're just going to teach them to drive fast,' " Payne said. "But teens are never trained to drive a car to its limits, so when they're in an accident they don't know what their limits are and the vehicle's limits are." After a short presentation by Payne, taking over the instruction were moussed and tanned race car drivers and test track professionals, all volunteers. Their attentive audience was a group of about 50 typical Las Vegas teens -- boys in oversized shorts and jeans, girls in undersized T-shirts -- who had shown up for the free class. On one track set up in the parking lot, the instructors taught the teens how to handle a vehicle during an emergency lane change and braking situation, including how to steer while slamming on the brakes. On another track with wet pavement, courtesy of the Henderson Fire Department, instructors schooled teens in handling a vehicle in a skid. Each teen was given several passes through the course to practice the various techniques. The teens' attention was held rapt by the squeal of tires and the dramatic skids. But Matt Esses, a 16-year-old Coronado High School student, said the experience was more than entertaining. He said it left him less likely to drive recklessly and more likely to be prepared for any situation he might encounter. "It makes you give more respect to the road," he said. Parents were equally pleased. "It's one thing to talk about it, it's another to be in the situation with a professional," said Beverly Daitch, whose son participated in the class. "It builds confidence." Nancy Degregorio, whose son took the course, agreed. She also had a suggestion for the instructors. "Can you emphasize that they shouldn't drive in the reclining position?" she asked. Payne hopes last week's classes are only the beginning. If corporate sponsors come through, he plans a Driver's Edge national tour, instructional videos for high schools and a permanent class in Las Vegas and other cities. He has found more doors are open, and corporate donors have listened more attentively since the recent crash that killed two Las Vegas High School students and injured three others. "Everyone is coming out of the woodwork and saying, `Yeah, let's do this,' " he said. "Maybe if we teach kids to drive to begin with it wouldn't happen. Where else are they going to experience this until it's too late?" Ashley Biersach, 16, who lost a leg in that crash, made an appearance at Thursday's course. She said she found it heartening that skilled professionals were taking the time to train teen-agers how to handle a vehicle in dangerous situations. She also wondered whether her life might be different had Ashley Troester, the teen driver killed in that crash, received similar training. "If Ashley Troester would have known how to do what they're doing, maybe we wouldn't have gotten in a crash that day," she said. If you have a question for the Road Warrior, call 387-2906 or e-mail Michael_Squires@ lvrj.com. Please include your phone number.
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