By: Jillian Wilson, jwilson@cbs4qc.com
The street survival program is designed to test the limits of drivers and their cars, making young drivers safer and smarter behind the wheel.
"It's really nice for once to be applauded due to a burnout instead of people yell at me," says Bailey Abbot, a student in the course.
It's not often that student drivers are asked to slam on their breaks, but that's exactly what instructors are asking their students to do.
It's part of a national teen safe driving course.
"It teaches them not so much the safety and the rules of the road, but it's on a closed course, where they're able to drive through slalom's, do some figure eights, hard breaking, evasive maneuvers on dry and wet pavement," says Chuck Gipson, of the Quad Cities Street Survival program.
After a classroom discussion, students get behind the wheel of their own car with a trained instructor.
Drivers can see first hand how their cars react to all types of situations like skid control and emergency braking.
"You just got to make sure you have fast hands and try to have control, do a lot of counter steering and make sure you have control of the truck or car or whatever you are driving."
One student came all the way from Chicago to take the class.
"I wanted to do it because it makes me more confident when I'm driving myself," said Allison Penzenick, a student driver.
Instructors in the course say driver confidence is the main reason for the program.
"So if they are ever in a driving situation and their vehicle starts to do some of these things it's not a time to panic, they can call back upon what they learned here and say, oh yeah, I remember this, I know what to do now."
Students also learn how dangerous distractions are in the car.
The most common for teens is texting while driving.
