The courses are taught in Manassas Virginia at Stonewall Jackson High School. (unless otherwise indicated.) Courses last a full day, beginning at 8 AM and going until approximately 5 PM.
After a brief introduction outlining the course events for the day, students are split up into two groups in order to optimize time. One of the groups will work on practical application, and the other on classroom curriculum. Throughout the day the groups will switch from practical application to classroom.
Classroom instructions include visual learning, videos, and demonstrations by the instructors. This includes a lot of metaphorical visual demonstrations to simplify more complex driving techniques.
General Safe driving practices
General safe driving practices. This will include common on-the-road distractions that may impede safe driving. For example, if a teenage driver has an extra person in the vehicle, their chance of getting into an accident increases by up to 87%. Also cell phone use, texting while driving, drinking and driving, and other impaired driving.
Proper vehicle preventive maintenance and care. How to maintain proper tire pressures. Also, how to check oil, coolant, and brake fluid.
Understeer and Oversteer. We will discuss understeering and oversteering. Understeer is the tendency of the vehicle to continue going straight when you want to turn. Oversteer is when the back of the car loses traction and begins to skid.
Dangerous antiquated driving practices. We discuss techniques that are no longer applicable, and may be dangerous such as pumping the brake and hand-over-hand steering.
Proper Braking Techniques. ABS vs Threshold Braking. Many cars today are equipped with an Anti-Lock brake system, however there are still a large number of vehicles that do not have ABS. For students that do not have ABS, our instructors work with the students to help them learn a technique called threshold braking. Threshold braking teaches the students to decelerate at the maximum rate without losing traction (skidding). This is done by careful modulation of the brake pedal at the threshold of maximum available traction.
Proper steering techniques. Hand-eye coordination for turns and shuffle steering techniques. Proper ways of pre-positioning one’s hands before making turns to avoid possible injury in the event of an air bag deployment.
Vehicle dynamics. How the vehicle reacts to your driving. Emergency braking in a turn. . For example, what happens to the vehicle when one brakes and turns at the same time.
Off-road recovery. 22% percent of accidents are caused by improper off-road recovery techniques. In the event of two wheels coming off the road, people often over-correct and greatly increase their chances of a severe accident, such as rolling the vehicle.
Dealing with the Unknown. This will include topics such as obstacle avoidance, road rage, etc.
Decisive Driving Course is unique in that we offer students a combination of classroom education, hands on experience in their OWN car, plus the added benefit of our Skid Car. In their own car the students will be instructed in the following techniques.
Once the students move onto the skid car, they will have further training in the following areas:
At the end of the day our instructors offer to answer any questions students may have after a the full day of training.