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THE TIRE RACK ADDRESSES NUMBER ONE KILLER OF U.S. TEENS
Street Survival™ program teaches life-saving driving skills
SOUTH BEND, Indiana , Nov. 27, 2006 - Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for American teenagers, accounting for more than 40 percent of fatalities of youths ages 16-19. That is why the family-owned Tire Rack, the country’s largest independent tire tester and most comprehensive source of tire and wheel information together with the BMW Car Club of America Foundation, is supporting The Tire Rack Street Survival™ program. Street Survival™ is a national teen driver education course aimed at saving the lives of teens, their passengers and the millions sharing the road by improving teens’ skills behind the wheel.
The Tire Rack Street Survival™ program teaches the basics of car control and improves driver competence through hands-on experiences in real-world driving situations.
One-day classes are open to permitted and licensed drivers ages 16-21 and held at local venues around the country each weekend. Schedules and registration forms can be found online at www.streetsurvival.org. The cost is $60 per student and many insurance companies offer premium discounts to graduates
“The statistics are staggering,” said Matt Edmonds, Vice President at The Tire Rack. “Much has been done to reduce deaths due to the lack of seatbelt use and the influences of alcohol, but we're addressing the biggest problem, which is the lack of experience behind the wheel. The truth is we all benefit when unnecessary accidents can be avoided.”
“High school driver's ed is not enough,” said Bill Wade, Street Survival national program manager. “It is an outdated program that puts more emphasis on parallel parking, instead of handling a car traveling 60 miles per hour. The Tire Rack Street Survival program gives young drivers the skills and understanding needed to make correct driving decisions and stay alive.”
The Tire Rack feels that by providing the resources to expand Street Survival's local schools, it can have a national impact. “It is tragic that thousands of teens make deadly driving choices every year,” said Peter Veldman, President Emeritus of The Tire Rack. “As a grandfather of 12 teen drivers I understand the value of proper driving skills and want to see as many teens as possible get the opportunity to learn these techniques.”
About The Tire Rack Street Survival™ program
Formed in April 2002 by the BMW Car Club of America Foundation (www.bmwccafoundation.org), the Street Survival™ safe teen driving program (www.streetsurvival.org) was launched. With the help of several corporate sponsors including The Tire Rack, Street Survival™ was initiated. Street Survival™ is built upon the premise that 'safe driving is learned by doing.' The program teaches students to avoid accidents by thinking and looking ahead. Street Survival™ is unique in that it offers students instruction in their own cars so that they learn the limitations of their 'daily drivers.'
The year 2003 was the pilot year for Street Survival™ and several successful schools were held around the country. In 2004, more than a dozen schools providing instruction for several hundred students were held. The year 2005 held 18 successful schools across the country, 2006 will have 35-40 schools, and Street Survival is aiming for over 50 in 2007.
About The Tire Rack
The Tire Rack, headquartered in South Bend, Indiana, is America's largest independent tire tester and consumer direct source for tires, wheels and performance accessories. The team of 80-plus Test Drivers, which includes the Sales Team, test tires from every major tire manufacturer on the company's state-of-the-art, 10-acre test facility and post findings on the company's website, www.tirerack.com, where consumers can make an educated decision on a tire, wheel or performance accessory purchase. The Tire Rack has also collected results from more than 100,000 consumer surveys of 426 tire models representing over 1.8 billion miles of real world tire data, the largest known cache of such information anywhere.
Since 1979, the family-owned company has grown from a single-point retail store in Indianapolis to encompass over 1.5 million square feet of warehouse space across the country. A diverse and broad in-stock inventory from 16 major tire and 31 wheel brands can be delivered anywhere in the country in two days or less. More than 4,800 Independent Recommended Installers are available to service customers installation needs nationwide.
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