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TEENAGERS DON'T KNOW HOW TO drive, at least not yet. Most adults don't really know, either, but adults at least have a sense of mortality and are more likely to know when slowing down might be a good idea. Teenagers have instead a sense of invincibility. And face it, driver's ed isn't what it used to be. Pour all of this into a 3,000- or 4,OOO-pqund car, and there is a huge potential for disaster.

That potential hit hard at a high school near Palm Springs, Calif., last year, when three seniors at Marywood-Palm Valley School were killed in a single-car accident. They were not drunk, they were not racing, and it was not dark out. Police reports say that the 17-year-old driver simply got off line and overcorrected. In many ways, it was a typical teenage accident: The driver got into a situation that called for a couple of simple but very specific countermoves that she knew nothing about.

Parents are beginning to realize all of this, in much the same way as the world started to realize that seatbelts, ABS and being sober were good ideas. As a direct
result of the Marywood tragedy, one parent in particular got involved.

Chad McQueen (yes, son of Steve) has two kids at the school. They're not yet old enough to drive, but he worries that they could become victims of someone who is. He also has another son, Steve, named after his famous grandfather, who is 20 and is a successful actor.

McQueen knows something about car accidents. Three years ago, he was driving a Porsche GT3 at Daytona International Speedway in practice for the Rolex 24 when another car sent him into the barrier exiting the chicane at the end of Daytona's Superstretch. The impact almost killed him. He suffered a broken lower left leg, two broken vertebrae and several broken ribs. His healing was long and slow and involved a halo device to steady his neck.

He is mostly recovered, but he does not want anyone else to have to go through the same thing. So, when he met teen-driving-safety instructor Andrew Wunderlich at a Mustang show in Long Beach, he set things in motion to sponsor a free driving clinic at Marywood-Palm Valley School.

The program took place over two days. On the first day, kids used driving simulators that exposed them to all kinds of potentially lethal situations. The simulators were provided by a charitable venture started three years ago by retired contractor Tim Albright. He adapted gaming software to fit driver's-ed applications and packaged several computer screens into an 18-wheeler to take the program wherever it can benefit the most drivers. "The Simulator" has been to county fairs, air shows, races and many high schools. Any high school or organization can request a visit by just covering expenses, about $1,000 for most Southern California locations. (More information is online at www.streetsimulator.com.)

The second part of the McQueen program featured in-car instruction, with students driving their own cars. Wunderlich and his team of experienced instructors regularly put on these events through Wunderlich's company, Teen Road to Safety (www.teenroadtosafety.com). The parking lot was donated by the Morongo Casino Resort and Spa in Cabazon, a short drive from Palm Springs. The Marywood students practiced lane changes and slaloms and careened around a wet skidpad, all with professional instructors in charge of the show. The idea was to expose the kids to how cars feel when they're going sideways and how they should react in panic situations.

This course was free, thanks to McQueen. Typical courses run $350 for students, and parents can take part for another $100.

IIIf it saves one life, it's worth it," said McQueen, who cheered on the students as they tore around the track.

With driver's ed disappearing from schools, programs like this are becoming more popular. The trouble is, they tend to go to wealthy schools and wealthy kids. Albright said that fewer than 3 percent of high schools offer driver training, the kind where you get into a car with an instructor and get onto the road. How do you educate the rest of the teenagers, since everybody is equal from behind the wheel? That question remains to be answered, but efforts like McQueen's are a good start.

28 AUTOWEEK MARCH 9, 2009