We’re glad BMW USA decided to post this video on their youtube channel, giving us a quick presentation of what their Performance Driving School is all about. People should really take notice.
Why do we feel people should take notice? It’s because, as presented in the clip, taking classes in performance driving isn’t something that’s meant only to improve your technique at controlling really fast sports cars or supercars around a track.
In fact, its meant to make you a more confident, more complete and overall a safer driver. Harnessing skills like when and how to brake (where it matters a lot what type of car you have), how to handle the steering and the throttle in certain low grip situations, how to examine the road ahead and other drivers around you – all of this will help you better prepare for your journey in traffic, no matter who you are, what you drive and where you drive.
With usual driving schools, you get assigned an instructor who teaches you the basics of how to operate a motor vehicle in and around traffic, park a car, gives you a few extra tips about driving in general and then you’re sent out into the world having to basically continue to learn on your own. It’s a time when you not only put yourself more at risk, but other drivers as well.
It’s like if Flight School would only teach you how to take off, land and fly a plane from airport A to airport B, without throwing in countless hours of simulator practice teaching you what to do when the plane is in distress, when one of the engines shuts down, when you run out of fuel, going through a storm, landing gear isn’t coming down and the list goes on and on.
When driving a car, you’re basically tasked with a lot of responsibility and you need to be ready to handle pretty much any situation that’s thrown at you.
This is why we fully support performance driving schools such as BMW‘s and we think more and more people should sign up, not just for fun, but for safety. In fact, we could go even further and suggest making performance driving mandatory for getting your license – and change the word “Performance” to “Advanced”, because it’s not about just going faster and having better technique.
BMW’s Performance Driving School (like other similar programs) will tailor to needs you might not even know you have on the road. It might just save your life one day, knowing what to do and not going into “panic mode”.
With knowledge about the road, cars and different driving techniques, you gain confidence, which is your number one tool when driving.
What’s sad is that some people (if not most) go their whole life without knowing what to do in a pressure situation on the road. And when that dire moment comes, they freeze where their indecisiveness can get them and their passengers seriously injured or worse.
We’d just love to hear about more and more people signing up for advanced or performance driving programs that can maybe one day make our roads safer by inspiring drivers to be better.