Driver training little help in crisis

In another recent wreck near Sisters, a driver drifted off the road to the right, overcorrected and crossed back over the roadway and into a tree.

Most people do exactly the wrong thing when a car leaves the pavement, according to professional drivers.

Carl Lopez is an instructor with Skip Barber Racing Schools. Lopez points out that if the wheels on the right side of the car are in gravel, and those on the left are on the pavement, "traction on the left is greater than traction on the right.

"If you then jump on the brake pedal, the car turns left."

The driver may have already yanked the steering wheel to the left, and be unprepared for the unequal action of the brakes. Lopez also pointed out that with one front wheel in the gravel, the car might not respond immediately to the driver. The driver will often turn the wheel even more.

Eventually, the right front tire climbs back up on the road. But the steering wheel is now turned farther than needed to the left. When that right front tire gets triple the traction in a tenth of a second, Lopez said, the car launches itself across the highway: into oncoming traffic, or across the road and into a tree or guard rail.

If the brakes are locked up and the tires are sliding, the car will not respond to the steering wheel. The driver becomes nothing more than a passenger in a car out of control.

"The amazing thing is, the less you do, and the slower you do it, the better off you are. Relax off the gas pedal, and 'coax' the car back on the road. Don't try to do it in 20 feet, but 150 feet," says Lopez.

Contact with reflectors or guardrails on the right is better than a head-on with opposing traffic, or a tree on the other side of the highway.

Todd Harris of the Pitarresi Pro Drive at Portland International Raceway in Portland agrees. Drivers who drift off the pavement need to "ease on the brakes, so there is no tire lock up, and let the car go straight. Then make small inputs" to the steering wheel.

Harris also says it is important to "use your eyes: Look where you want to go." If a driver focuses on the oncoming traffic, that is where he or she will steer the car. It is important to look down the highway. "The hands will follow the eyes," Harris says.

In winter, it is nearly comical that so many of the vehicles on the their tops or in the trees are four-wheel drive. People forget that four wheel drive does not improve the ability to stop once your foot leaves the accelerator.

In addition to performance driving schools in Portland, Pitarresi also teaches courses in advanced driver safety, where drivers in special "skid cars" may learn how to recover in emergency conditions.

Skip Barber has gone so far as to offer special courses through high schools on the east coast that go beyond normal driver's ed.

"Most driving education programs ... offer little help, either in theory or with hands-on training, about 'avoiding' a crash once an emergency scenario has actually begun..." according to the Skip Barber website. "...untrained drivers have the least potential to respond effectively. We want people to know that there are lots of avoidance options available in the time and space just before 'the big crash.' "