My name is Ronn Langford. I am the founder of the MasterDrive Experience. 

 

Several years ago, our family experienced the one thing that scares every parent to death. That call in the middle of the night.

 

My youngest daughter, Dorri, had graduated from high school the prior year. She was coming home from the movies with a date when the car she was riding in was t-boned by a nineteen year old boy. He had been partying for several hours with a couple of buddies. He went through a red light in a residential area, and came through my daughters door at an estimated 55 to 60 mph. 

 

His blood alcohol level was almost .20 – 2 hours after the crash. He had some injuries. His two buddies went through some glass. But they survived.  Dorri’s date suffered a traumatic brain injury, and required some surgery and therapy for a long period of time. 

 

He died several years later, probably as a result of that crash. Dorri was killed instantly. A beautiful, vibrant, young woman. Gone in a moment! 

 

Because of my background as a national sports car race driver, and a driving coach for more than 1,200 of the highest level race drivers from over the U.S. and Canada, I started to take a look at what we were doing and not doing to prepare our young people to become drivers. 

 

Having had two daughters go through the “learning to drive process”, I knew what the typical D. E. program was like. The problem was not what they did do, but what they didn’t do. And like a lot people, I kind of thought that “D. E. was a joke”. Until this happened to our family … and then it was no joke. 

 

This forced me to look at the problem in a totally different way than I had before. You know, we accuse kids of thinking they are invincible. And yet, we as parents act like we think they are invincible. Think about that for just a second and I think you’ll agree. Otherwise, we would do everything possible to make certain they are safe. Especially as they become drivers, since driving is by far their greatest risk!

 

So I made a decision to look at ways we can do a better job of preparing kids to become a driver. A competent, responsible driver. The MasterDrive Experience is the result of this decision. The MasterDrive Experience has been featured nationally by AutoWeek magazine, NBC Nightly News, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and other national media. MasterDrive has developed and conducted specific training for the U.S. Army Special Forces, the U.S. Postal Service, Instructor Certification programs for Law Enforcement Departments from all over the United States, and major corporations that operate fleet vehicles in difficult environments all over the world. 

 

Shortly after Dorri’s death, I founded the Driving Skills Institute, to honor her memory. The DSI is a not-for-profit corporation, and an IRS approved Research and Education Foundation, which has conducted specific research programs and free-to-the-public educational programs for families for many years, involving thousands of people. Through the DSI we have also conducted research in regard to senior drivers, with the Colorado Center for Psychology. An effective research study about the challenges and solutions of senior drivers. This program was presented on PBS. 

 

The DSI, along with MasterDrive, has also developed a totally unique program to work with kids who have specific learning and functional difficulties (ADHD, Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, etc.). This unique and effective program has been presented to and recognized nationally by the Association for Driving Rehabilitation Specialists.

 

My first objective was to design a process … a program, that would give the young teen driver the psychomotor skills, the mental programming, and the decision making abilities, to become a more competent driver. So let’s look at this for just a moment. 

 

What are psychomotor skills? Psycho – is the mind. Motor – is the body. Skill – is the ability to do something at the subconscious level. That is, you don’t have to think about it. You can do it automatically. It has been programmed. It is the same as with any sport or athletic activity, or playing the piano. You learn to do something by repetitions. The total psychomotor skills of driving are critical to the survival of the teen driver.

 

What is mental programming? In any sport, how important are the mental aspects. The state of mind – especially in a crisis or challenging situation? The ability to respond to a crisis in an appropriate manner. To remain calm, cool and collected, and actually respond. 

 

As human beings, we all have a tendency to function at a higher level if we have more confidence in what we are doing. A positive state of mind is based in our belief that we know how to do something. Not over-confidence, or more accurately false-confidence. False confidence is … you don’t know what you don’t know. But how does one get confidence? By doing! Do we really believe that timidity … or naïvete’ … is the solution to the problems with teen drivers? I think we all know that lack of preparation … lack of experience … is the cause of the problem. Therefore, the solution is … more experience.

 

What do I mean by decision making abilities? We all know that with bad information you can make bad decisions. You can reach wrong conclusions. The biggest problem is when we do not have the basic knowledge to make good decisions. What’s the solution? Better information … more skill … more knowledge … so that a new driver can make better decisions. These are the necessary ingredients in the preparation of a teen driver!

 

Since the beginning of The MasterDrive Experience, we have developed a broad range of the most effective driver training programs, because we have based the learning process upon the most effective teaching and learning strategies. Based upon an understanding of the way the brain learns, and communicates to the body. This includes the extensive training preparation of our coaches. In addition to advanced training in car control, our coaches are intensively trained in psychology and the way that the brain and body function. 

 

This will give you a basic understanding the MasterDrive Experience, and why we created it. If you share the opinion that we need to produce better drivers, especially new drivers who need to have a higher level of competency, I hope you will take a “test drive” through the MasterDrive web site. If you are the parents of a new teen driver, please remember to click through all the sections of the teen driving program, and also look into the Parent Forum section. 

 

 

Ronn Langford

President and Founder

The MasterDrive Experience