Chaz Shares His Near Wreck Experience in Drivers Ed

Frank Pain and I were outside taking a smoke break earlier today (June 3rd), when we saw this car pull up with a kid that looked like he might be learning to drive. Well, the conversation shifted to Drivers Ed and I shared a story about the time that my teacher fell asleep and almost caused us to wreck on the South First exit ramp.

When I learned how to drive, I was going to school in Clyde. The drivers course we took, was taught by the varsity football coach and athletic director, Coach West. Those of you who went to Clyde know all too well that Coach West liked to take a little nap here and there.

Anyway, I was driving down the Winters Freeway with our little group, which included my girlfriend at the time, and my friend Nick Lowe. Coach had already been sawing some logs as we cruised down the highway. I decided to get off of the highway using the southbound exit to South First. That exit circles around quite a bit, meaning you have to exit kind of slow. Well, as a young driver, I may have been going a little fast - but I was still in control. All of a sudden, Coach West wakes up right as I was exiting, and the first thing he did was hit the passenger side brake, which is typical in most drivers ed cars. When he hit the brake, it caused the car to go into a skid which threw us sideways. Somehow I was able to control the skid and we didn't roll over or anything, we just came to a stop. I thought Coach was going to have a heart attack as I was wishing I had a clean pair of underwear with me.

So, that was my near-wreck experience in Drivers Ed. To this day, I still think about that every time I get off of the highway at the exit.

Surely I'm not the only one that has a crazy story from learning how to drive. What's your story?

While you ponder that, check out this funny video of how not to teach Drivers Ed courtesy of the TV show 'Studio C'.