Allen Berg, right, offering pointers to driving student
You’re driving along an Alberta highway in the dead of winter, listening to the radio, thinking you should divert some heat to the floor because your feet are cold. Suddenly, your car hits black ice. The back end begins to fishtail. You’re headed for the ditch at highway speed or, worse yet, maybe into oncoming traffic.
What do you do?
If you’re smart, you took a winter driving course from Allen Berg Driving Schools and you know what to do: Slowly ease up on the gas, pop the transmission in neutral if you can, don’t over-steer the wheel and let the car correct itself…probably none of the things you would have done intuitively.
The average driver probably panics in this scenario and slams on the brakes or wrenches the steering wheel, exacerbating the problem.
Unfortunately, the average driver understands little of the physical forces affecting how their automobile operates on the road. Which is why it pays to learn from people who have driven professionally at the highest level.
Driving on glare ice can be tricky for even the most experienced drivers
Allen Berg is a Calgary boy who once raced against the world’s best Formula One teams. Only two other Canadians have driven F1 in the past 35 years, the legendary Jacques Villeneuve and and his son, Gilles. He started racing karts with his father as a teenager in the late ‘70s, graduated to the European F1 circuit in the mid ‘80s, and was a dominant racer in Mexico during the ‘90s. A few years ago he returned to Calgary and started his racing and driving schools, operating out of the Race City facility.
His winter driving school has the only ice skid pad in Western Canada. Many of the students are sent by their employers to learn how to drive on ice and snow. They often work in the oil patch and have to drive on treacherous northern and rural roads. With the increasing emphasis industry is placing on employee safety, learning how to drive safely in winter is a no-brainer.
“The average driver doesn’t understand how a car works. What we try to do is break it down from the tires on up…how the tires affect the handling of the car, how the driver affects the handling of the car,” said Mr. Berg.
“We explain the different types of handling scenarios they could have based on what happens with the tires and weight transfer and tell them how to correct for this.”
Before hitting the skid pad, winter driving students receive instruction in on the basics of automotive operation
Mr. Berg explains that there are two approaches to accident avoidance: driving cautiously and avoiding dangerous situations, and driving out of potential accidents should they arise.
“What we’re teaching them is not to drive faster, but to drive smarter. The objective is to create a higher level of awareness in the drivers so they can anticipate a driving scenario ahead of them and take precautionary measures,” he said.
“If they become engaged in an accident avoidance scenario they’ll have the tools and the understanding to successfully avoid being involved in a collision.
For more information about Allen Berg Driving Schools, visit www.allenbergracingschools.com.
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