He did the right thing.
For those who haven't watched the video yet, you can jump forward to about 1:20 to see the relevant part.
For those who haven't watched the video yet, you can jump forward to about 1:20 to see the relevant part.
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Our daughter learned to drive when we lived in Colorado. Up in Steamboat Springs (at least, at the time) the Bridgestone tire company ran a winter driving school. They had a track setup with tall snow berms all the way around. The track itself was a mix of snowy, relatively dry, and icy conditions. They provided the cars, and if you lost control you just slid into a snow-berm -- no big deal. We decided it would be a good idea to take our daughter to it, and my wife and I both went through it also. Despite having learned to drive in Nebraska, in some pretty hairy winter conditions, I learned a lot more than I expected.
One thing they did was have the cars all rigged with a switch that could turn off the ABS system. One of the exercises was doing emergency stopping both with, and without, the ABS system working. It was pretty eye-opening. No matter how hard you tried, there was no way to beat the ABS system at stopping.
Anyway, the long and short of all of this is, yes, there is at least one driving school out there where you get to experience what full use of your ABS system feels like.
Just checked, and the place is still in operation... Home
Now for the fun part of the story. One evening, after class, we were sitting in a nearby pub with one of the instructors. He said that the most fun he had ever had at the school had been just the previous week to when we were there. A couple of teams of Navy SEALS had come to learn winter driving. Unlike their normal class, though -- where the objective is to learn how to drive safely, and in control, in winter conditions -- the SEALS basically wanted to learn how to go as fast as possible without killing themselves. They brought their own Humvees with them. I guess it was a pretty thrilling week, including several rollovers, with one of the Humvees getting pretty seriously banged up.
In any case, if you want to learn about winter driving, I can recommend the school. And Steamboat is a great little town to visit anyway.
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