Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Driver's Education: Willow Glen Resident staff writer Kate Carter listens to Drivetrain instructor Gordon Booth, seen in the reflection of her car window, before starting a driving lesson out to Mount Hamilton. Booth's business teaches skills that allow people to become safer, more confident drivers.
Gordon Booth says driver's education can lead to fewer automobile collisions
Willow Glen resident helps people to better operate their vehicles
By Kate Carter
Gordon Booth is driving my car at about 60 miles per hour down a straight stretch of road in a valley on the east side of Mount Hamilton.
"Are you strapped in?" he asks me in his warm British accent.
"Yep," I reply, casually admiring the cowboy country landscape outside.
Suddenly, my body veers toward the windshield as Booth slams on the brakes. I stop breathing as I feel my little Volkswagen GTI lurching back and forth--Booth has engaged the car's anti-lock brake system.
"Holy cow," I say, thinking a ride with Booth is like a visit to Great America.
Booth maintains his composure, the hint of an amused smile in his eyes. He pulls over to the side of the road, deserted except for vagabond cows, and says, "Ready for your turn?"
Booth, a Willow Glen resident and owner of Drivetrain, a vehicle-driving instruction company, is taking me on an eight-hour high-performance driving course. I'm learning skills like cornering, steering, weight and balance transfering, and, at that moment, emergency braking, all in the hopes that at the end of the day I'll be a better and safer driver. Booth believes that if people would take their driving skills more seriously and work to improve them, as well as actively learn from their mistakes, many vehicle collisions and traffic problems would be avoided.
"The greatest skill a driver can have is self-awareness," he says. "Those who ask, 'What could I have done different or better?' have the will to learn from their mistakes. Self-awareness is an attribute which the younger generation unfortunately sees as a sign of weakness. I've never met a self-admitted bad driver."
Booth doesn't believe in car "accidents." He prefers to call them "collisions" or "crashes" and says the most common explanation for such incidents--that they happen "suddenly"--is incorrect. Nothing on the road happens suddenly, he says. By being more aware of road conditions and surroundings, a driver is better able to recognize and prioritize hazards and avoid making costly and life-threatening mistakes.
Such skills, though, aren't adequately taught in the average driver training course or sufficiently practiced in the time a novice driver is required to spend behind the wheel before qualifying for a license, Booth says. Smooth, skillful, safe driving requires instruction by experienced driving trainers and additional supervision, he says.
Booth says his Drivetrain company provides that. As chief instructor (in reality currently the only instructor) Booth takes clients out on daylong driving trips in their own cars. He offers a variety of courses that use local roads selected for their ability to test particular driving skills.
"Where do people need the experience?" Booth says, answering himself, "In their own car, on their own roads." He adds that people need "time to help improve their ability to notice hazards of the road."
And Booth is nothing if not qualified.
Booth grew up on a farm in Cornwall, U.K., and started driving tractors when he was 5. He began driving a Rover 90 up to 75 miles per hour down a 21/2 mile private road at age 10, and passed Britain's "lethal" driving exam the day after his 17th birthday.
Booth then went on to fly fighter jets for the Royal Navy, and then entered the corporate world working for Gilroy Foods' international division, moving to the United States in 1980. He continued to advance his driving skills at the Bob Bondurant Driving School in Phoenix, Ariz. and is a member of the British Institute of Advanced Motorists, the Advanced Drivers Association of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, the Driving Instructors Association and International Association for Driver Education. He is also qualified for a Sports Car Club of America Racing license. He has driven Dodge Vipers and Z06 Corvettes with race-car driver and trainer Justin Bell, who lauds Booth's program on Drivetrain's website, and attends driving seminars throughout the year.
"I always learn something," he says. "That's my thirst for knowledge."
Booth teaches race-car driving, writes articles for Team Corvette newsletter, makes presentations to local organizations and high schools and volunteers with the California Highway Patrol.
"I've always had a passion for cars, and I can be a little heavy with my right foot," Booth says, with his dry, British sense of humor. "If I could die and say where I wanted to go, it would be to one of two racetracks and driving something with four wheels that's very expensive and with no cross traffic."
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Preparation First: Drivetrain owner and chief instructor Gordon Booth keeps a checklist of things to do taped to his steering wheel. The checklist includes such points as making sure the seat and mirrors are in proper position. Anytime Booth uses his car, he runs through the list and makes sure everything is in order.
Starting Drivetrain
About a year ago, Booth was fed up with the corporate world and quit his job with Gilroy Foods. His wife, Marilyn, encouraged him to indulge his passion and create a U.S. version of the British Drivetrain program, which Booth had been thinking about on and off for a decade. So, last April, Drivetrain was incorporated, and by July Booth was taking clients out on the road.
"I made exactly the right decision," Booth says. "I'm a much nicer person."
He says he loves what he does and would be content if his business just breaks even, as long as he can try to resolve what he sees as poor driving in the United States, and especially California.
"The whole driving behavior here is quite abysmal," he says. "You've got to overcome the male-testosterone ego thing by learning to drive better. High performance is not all about speed; it's about car control and balance. If you can't get it right at slow speeds, why do you think you can do it at high speeds?"
Driving Woes
Booth points to statistics, sourced from the Wall Street Journal's Aug. 29, 2001 issue, demonstrating U.S. and California driving woes. In the last 30 years, the nation's driving population has increased by 63 percent and its number of vehicles has increased by 90 percent. But it has increased its total road miles by only 6 percent. The situation in California is worse, with the number of miles driven increasing by 30 percent in the past decade, but the state's lane mile capacity increasing by a mere 1 percent.
In 1999, there were about 6.3 million vehicle collisions, 38 percent alcohol related, and about 41,000 people killed, Booth says. More than half of the fatal crashes involved only one vehicle and occurred on roads with speed limits greater than 55 miles per hour. More than 90 percent of collisions are caused by driver error, and more than 80 percent occur at intersections.
Statistics like those tell Booth there is a driving problem in the United States and that much of the situation can be improved by better driving skills. His program, based on the British police driving curriculum and handbook Roadcraft, emphasizes awareness of one's own abilities, the vehicle's and road's limitations and trip planning and preparedness to create a smooth drive. He offers services to new drivers, drivers at the risk of losing their licenses, drivers who have bought new cars or want to learn new skills and others who just want an update.
"People who come to me want to learn to become better drivers," Booth says. But those he really wants to teach are the drivers who would never solicit his help. "Americans have this unquenchable thirst for education, until it comes to driving cars better and safer."
Although Booth likes to drive fast, his number one concern is safety--speed isn't dangerous; inappropriate and uncontrolled speed is. So even when I arrive for my high-performance drive over the windy road up to Mount Hamilton, the first thing he does is check my tire pressure--it isn't good enough that I just had it checked two weeks before, he says. Sure enough, each tire is a little low and he pumps them up for me.
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Driving Instruction: Drivetrain owner and chief instructor Gordon Booth started driving a tractor on his family's farm in England when he was 5.
The Cockpit Drill
Then Booth sits me behind my wheel, and says I, like about 95 percent of the people he works with, have my seat leaning too far back. Together, we adjust the seat, its distance from the foot pedals and the height of my steering wheel column, until I am sitting higher and have more visibility out the windshield.
Booth takes me through a "cockpit drill" to make sure my car is ready to drive, and then we set off from his Willow Glen home onto Interstate 280.
Although we didn't do it, Booth also recommends drivers test their brakes while they're going about 20 miles per hour, to make sure they are working when they really need them.
As I drive through the late-morning traffic, Booth coaches me through choosing a lane--he recommends staying in the center lanes--watching out for drivers making lane changes and staying out of blind spots. He encourages me to keep my hands at either the "9" and "3" or "10" and "2" positions on the steering wheel with my thumbs resting on the wheel, not curling around it.
Booth also begins to talk about his driving philosophy of recognizing what's going on; making decisions based on that; and being clear about the actions one then takes.
The key, for Booth, is "the system" of keeping the vehicle in the correct position on the road, at the correct speed for the road's and environment's conditions and one's skill level and using the correct gear for that speed and those conditions. Using the system with a close awareness of the surroundings will lead to smooth, controlled driving, he says.
"Your vision goes way up and you can recognize hazards and can prioritize them," he says.
We stop and take a break after exiting the freeway, and Booth gives me a chance to reflect on my performance. This is important, he says, to emphasize the value in recognizing and learning from mistakes. One he notes in my driving is a tendency to coast in neutral up to stop signs and red lights, which reduces my driving control.
Then we start winding up into the hills, and he takes note of my steering style, the hand-over-hand technique I learned in driver's education nine years ago. Booth recommends a "pull-push" method of steering, which entails placing the pulling hand far up on the wheel to begin a turn, and using the other hand to push the wheel, continuing the turn, never crossing one over the other. This gives the driver more control of the turn, he says. It's tricky for me to break old habits, and at first his method feels awkward. But as the road gets steeper and the curves become more pronounced, I feel I am better able to stay well placed in my lane. At one point, Booth takes over for me, driving at much faster speeds but with more control through the turns, and never once using the brake.
Staying well placed and controlled becomes even more important after we summit and head down the hill. "It's harder going downhill than going uphill," Booth says, and I agree with him as I tentatively navigate downward. I'm back behind the wheel and hovering over the brake pedal on every turn, working to use my hands appropriately and forgetting often, for which Booth gently chides me.
Once down, we take a coffee break, and Booth prepares me for an intense cornering lesson of learning where to be when entering a turn and knowing how to use the brake and accelerator to keep an appropriate and safe speed. The key to curves, he says, is recognizing the visible distance ahead and traveling slow enough to allow one to stop within that visible distance, if necessary.
It makes little sense to me, until we get going again and he helps me learn to open up the radius of my turns by staying toward the outside. Although I slow down sooner entering curves, by doing so, he says, I will be able to travel through turns faster, with less recovery time. After about an hour of turns, my mind is a jumble; and my shoulders are sore; and I'm grateful for a lunch break.
Afterward, we do emergency stops, which terrify me at first but make me more confident of being able to handle extreme situations, and we encounter a few as cows wander in front of us with no warning. Then it's back to turns, and we chat about life as I finally get a handle on "breathing" on the brake through curves and staying in the right place on the road.
It's then time for smooth downshifting, a technique which comes slowly to my non-mechanically inclined brain and body. Mostly, I enjoy the sound my engine makes revving from third to second gears, while Booth grimaces next to me and tries to find something positive to say.
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Air Pressure: Gordon Booth checks the air pressure of 'Willow Glen Resident' staff writer Kate Carter's car before heading out on their day of driver training to Mount Hamilton.
Unsafe Drivers
Finally we're back on the freeway; it's afternoon rush-hour traffic, and we get a chance to see some drivers making interesting and bold maneuvers without much regard for their safety or others. Booth says behavior like that comes from either not recognizing the risk or not caring about the consequences. I care, especially with a passenger, and get us safely back to Willow Glen.
Booth then takes over to drive us down downtown Willow Glen's treacherous Lincoln Avenue. He says he likes to take his clients down the street because of its plethora of hazards, from cars pulling out or pulling in, pedestrians with dogs and strollers crossing and other complicating behavior. I put my familiarity with the avenue and its features to good use and coach Booth through the drive with a "running commentary," which he has already demonstrated as a good way to keep up one's awareness of hazards, their importance and one's reactions to them.
Lastly, we head to Westfield Shoppingtown Valley Fair to practice driving in "one of the most dangerous" driving environments around, according to Booth--the parking lot.
A successful trip home lands two tired souls back at Booth's home, where he hands me a certificate of completion of the course. A day later, he emails me a four-page appraisal of my performance that, if my license were up for review by a judge, could be used to demonstrate my level of driving competence and the areas in which I need to improve.
"Overall, this was a solid drive, on a technically difficult course," Booth writes. However, he recommended that I continue to work on cornering and downshifting and not coasting to stops.
Over lunch, I had asked Booth what he got out of taking people like me out on the road and trying to fix the driving problems he sees every day out there.
"If I can put out one safer driver on the road, I've done something for the community," he said. "That makes me feel good, to send away a better driver."
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
