Students take their skills for a test drive with Ford

Majority of the time, teenagers are drilled with, “Be safe. Drive carefully.” However, on November ninth, physics students were given the opportunity to drive recklessly at Ford Driving Skills for Life.

Under professional supervision, students were taught how to drift in Mustangs and drove with drunk goggles. Although, it was not an excuse for students to live out their “Fast & Furious” fantasies, students learned how to react to a situation of traction loss.

Hazard recognition, vehicle handling, speed management, space management, and distracted driving are the main focuses on the field trip because, according to the Ford Driving Skills website, 60 percent of vehicle crashes occur as a result of driver incompetency in those areas.

Ford also cites motor accidents as the leading cause of death in teenagers and it is critical to ensure that students at Perry are safe once they step outside the halls. Ford Driving teaches pumas those crucial safety habits.

Perry students used drunk goggles while driving the cars and according to physics teacher, David Flores,“it showed how truly bad students are at driving impaired.”

Perhaps the new knowledge of the severity of driving impaired will save at least one student’s life.

“The Ford Driving experience is an excellent chance for students to learn real life skills from professional drivers,” said Mr. Flores, who has brought students on the field trip for almost as long as Perry High School has been open.

Riley Lewis, a junior at Perry, said, “My favorite part was expecting drifting in the mustangs to be easy, then making a full 360 my first time trying it because it was way harder than it looked.”

Throughout their high school experience, students never truly go on another field trip quite like this one, where they go through courses in a car they might never buy with a professional they would otherwise never meet.

“Driving with professionals is an experience that cannot be replicated anywhere else,” Mr. Flores said.