A national free teen defensive driving program, BRAKES (Be Responsible and Keep Everyone Safe), will be Aug. 28-29 in Jefferson City, with sessions at the Missouri EVOC Training Center on Militia Drive.
Using vehicles provided by Kia Motors, the BRAKES program offers teens behind-the-wheel instruction from professional trainers including current and former law enforcement officers, as well as professional racing drivers, teaching teens and their parents how to be safer on the road.
Exercises include distracted driving awareness, panic braking, crash avoidance, drop-wheel/off-road recovery and car control/skid recovery.
Authorities report car crashes as the number one cause of death among teens, ending more lives every day than murder, suicide or disease. Officials with BRAKES said their graduates are 64 percent less likely to get in a crash within their first three years of driving.
BRAKES is a 501(c)(3) charity founded by top fuel drag racing champion Doug Herbert in honor of his two sons, Jon and James, who lost their lives in a car crash in 2008. Since it began, BRAKES has trained more than 45,000 teens across the country.
The program will be offered from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 28 and from 8 a.m. to 3 pm. Aug. 29.
For more information about the program or to register, visit www.putonthebrakes.org or call 704-720-3806.
This article was edited at 1:10 p.m. Aug. 4, 2021, to correct the hours of the program and telephone number.