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I Pledge to Do Doughnuts
Dec 07 2007 by Colette Fischer
12/7/2007
Driving School Says Practice Makes Perfect
For years, my baby brother has been urging me to “stop being a wuss and just get out on the snow and do a bunch of doughnuts” in an effort to overcome winter driving fears. In the past, I’ve always associated this seemingly haphazard activity with crazed, testosterone-bubbling men heehawing loudly while aimlessly skidding about. To avoid even the slightest chance of invading a doughnut-seeker’s territory, I typically drive in the opposite direction whenever I spot such behavior.
I am slowly changing my tune now. We already published my winter driving tips post, but I felt a further review of the Bridgestone Winter Driving School’s $38 instruction manual and DVD (“Why Skid? Modern Winter Driving Techniques”) might be of benefit. I mean, I am modern and I do drive, so why not? Plus, the fact that I’ve sat through way too many lousy rental movies lately had me eager to find a DVD of value.
Although the reading is dry, it wasn’t so dull that I couldn’t blaze through it during a not-so-uncommon middle of the night waking. (I never had these pre-babes, but then, that’s another story altogether, and one that’s probably all too familiar to any fellow mama reading this blog.)
However informative and helpful the booklet’s technical elements were, the thing that really perked me back up at 3 a.m. was the suggestion to find a safe place and PRACTICE driving on snow. Considering that it was the middle of the night and I was surrounded by coyote singsong, I was surprised to see a lifelike image of my brother appear before me, waving his index finger and leisurely chanting, “I told you so.” Oh, just be gone already!
According to the manual, the homework I’ve been given is to drive my car on the snow in a circle, slowly accelerating until I feel the car about to lose traction. Next I need to try to steer to the center of the circle (upon which I should feel the car drifting further to the outside of the donut). Weird! Here comes the real surprise, though: Instead of steering into the circle, I will need to slowly steer back toward a straight position and then (assuming I haven’t lost my spunk) the car should regain its grip and be back on track with the original circle I started.
Once I’ve successfully completed that task, I’m supposed to then go back to the circle exercise, but instead of steering, slowly accelerate. If all goes well, and I don’t land on some lamppost, I should note that the car will steer less and be moved into a larger circle. Once I let up on the gas, however, I should note that the car steers better again due to weight transfer, which is discussed in detail throughout the booklet.
On the DVD and in the booklet, the concepts of understeer (in which a car tends to refuse to turn), oversteer (in which there is a tendency for the car to spin) and weight transfer (as it relates to acceleration and deceleration) are broken down nicely. But all the reading and watching in the world won’t do us any good if we don’t know how to apply critical concepts in real-life situations, right?
The driving school stresses that speed control and awareness are paramount: “Panic breeds mistakes.” How do we avoid panic? Call Mom! No, no, just practice. Sign up with a driving school and skid down some ice tracks, or take Bridgestone’s advice and go do a bunch of doughnuts (SAFELY). As for me, I’ll be scoping out huge empty parking lots and mustering up the courage to use my car to paint a holed pastry in the snow. Once I’ve done that, I’ll call my little bro to tell him all about it, then treat myself to a big, fat, custard-gushing, chocolaty doughnut and a cup of steaming hot chocolate. With marshmallows, of course!
