Put On The B.R.A.K.E.S. with Doug Herbert

Fantastic experience: Absolutely wonderful program for teens. I took my 16 year old and she had a lot of fun and learned so much. The only thing I wish was different is that they had these clinics every weekend for teens! I’d sign my daughter up for everyone of them. Thank you so much for offering this program!!!

Fantastic experience: I am so incredibly grateful that we had the opportunity for my teen to do this. The parent information/portion was incredibly informative, and my teen said that they feel so much more confident now. They taught my teen things that I would have never thought to teach them and allowed them to safely experience situations that will help them in the future. I appreciated the distracted driving portion the most because it showed my teen that even the smallest distraction is TOO MUCH. Thank you so much to the program and people who put it on.

Fantastic experience: Very informative and well worth the donation to pay it forward!

Fantastic experience: My daughter attended a recent class and came away feeling much more confident as a driver! The class instruction is engaging and helpful, and the driving portion is something your kid is not going to get no matter how many hours they spend on the roads! It was invaluable! I would highly recommend the class!

Fantastic experience: Fantastic! This is an MUST attend event for your teen driver!! Thankful to KIA for being such a BIG part of this course as well as all the other sponsors and volunteers! I would drive to another state just to attend.

Negative experience: I just watched a group of these people in multiple cars tailgating switching lanes without turn signals. While in a parking lot getting ready to back into a spot had one pull behind me like I wasn't there, then try to sale the service to a mom. Honestly that's not good in any way

Fantastic experience: Excellent experience for my teenager. A few months after completing this course, my son ran off the shoulder on a narrow road. He said he remembered his BRAKES training and didn't panic. Thank you all who help make this training possible.

Positive experience: A wonderful life saving experience for young people. Truly a proven need! Only negative is how hard it is to schedule admittance. Difficulty is no real indication of how hard it is. My daughter has been trying for months now to get her son, my grandson signed up. She was told to sign up today at a certain time. She did. 2 minutes in she was denied entry and told to try again later. So our teen did have a great experience. Many years ago ten to be exact.

Fantastic experience: I love this school and everything it stands for. Doug is the sweetest, best role model and most humble guy to be around. He is so passionate about his school, and I think what he does is truly inspiring and has saved MANY lives. I wish Doug, and B.R.A.K.E.S nothing but true success. Thank you Doug, for all your hard work and dedication! ❤️

Fantastic experience: OUTSTANDING...what a phenomenal all-around experience...strongly recommend to everyone with new teen drivers.

Fantastic experience: Our teens loved this program. They completed it in July. Just yesterday one got run off the road and it popped his tire. He knew exactly how to safely correct the situation and used what he learned to stay safe.

Fantastic experience: A judge in my county wanted my son to take this class as part of his sentence for being not very smart behind the wheel and making very bad decisions! I am so glad she did, I wish he had taken this course before making bad decisions , I grew up here in Iredell County NC I remember the sad story of Jon and James Herbert when it happened watching it on the local news, but I didn’t know about this amazing program that was born out of the tragedy! I suppose unless you have young teenagers you really don’t pay much attention to things until you do ! This should be taught in every driver’s education course in all the schools, before we as society allow them on the road to drive, to give them and everyone else all the protection we possibly can. I appreciate Mr Doug Herbert’s dedication to this and Thank him from the bottom of my heart, they even taught me things, From the second we arrived we were greeted with kindness and compassion, it was extremely well organized and thought out, and everyone here from start to finish was so energetic and full of motivation to teach these young adults the importance of safe driving and how to get the confidence behind the wheel, they even included the parents so the young adults could pick on us ! Haha just kidding really we drove too!!!! Great program I opened up the website five minutes after getting there and have donated money every month since, what’s worth more than hopefully saving a life! Or more than one if they were to wreak into someone else!! Bless all of you that spend the time away from your family to teach and work with this program for our children and us!❤️ Thank you all and God Bless!

Fantastic experience: Please sign your child up for this!! You will be so happy for them to have this experience. Exceptional!!

Fantastic experience: Amazing. Instructors are so caring and personable while still giving amazing pointers. Every teen driver should take this course!!

Fantastic experience: Just saw a local news story about Brakes. My son took this training a few years ago. He called me one night after dropping a tire on I95 during a rainstorm. He said his Brakes training help him not panic and get the car back on road. This training is well worth it!!!!

Fantastic experience: Both my kids took this class and we all found it invaluable. Every teen driver should take it!

Fantastic experience: This was an amazing experience for my teenager! So so glad we enrolled her in this class!

Fantastic experience: We had our third teen attend the course last Sunday in Ypsilanti, MI. This course is excellent for new drivers, teaches skills and techniques well beyond drivers ed. Thanks to all the instructors and support personnel for consistently delivering this valuable experience.

Fantastic experience: Highly Recommend!!! Staff is wonderful. Both the parent and the student receive a multitude of driver education. We traveled three hours for the class and it was worth every mile. Teenagers were reluctant to go, but very appreciative when it was over. Both young adults spoke highly of the trainers and the course. Do not hesitate to enroll! We donated our $99 enrollment fee without hesitation. It is truly worth the cost.

Fantastic experience: My 16-year old son attended BRAKES in Sep 2020 and it is well worth the time and money, if you choose to donate. The 3+ hour class is FREE, but your donation will be put to good use. As a parent, I heard about it from a colleague. Given the popularity of BRAKES, you have to be quick to reserve a spot, but it is not very difficult. All of the information is on their site and you can also choose to get emails. The entire staff, many of whom are retired Highway Patrol Officers, are very professional and friendly. Everything is very well organized at the Zmax Speedway. First we attended a class for 25 minutes that gives you stark information on driving statistics. in the U.S., teenagers get very little driving instruction and the hurdle to get a license is very low. Which is why so many kids die in car accidents. This program teaches kids (and parents for one portion) how to react, how to handle your car in emergency situations, how to avoid collisions and control your car. The car company, KIA, must be recognized as they provide the 20-30 new cars for this course. Kids do emergency braking, slalom, total loss of control with slick rear tires, ABS braking, and recovering from a run off from the road. Really worth the time to take your teenager. Even if they learn ONE thing, it is well worth it. One of the BEST TIPS EVER the instructors gave us is to completely change how we set our SIDE MIRRORS. I have been driving for 35+ years and now I realize I had the SIDE MIRRORS all WRONG. ALL of us have them set wrong. You essentially move both mirrors more OUTWARD so you can cover the DEADLY BLIND SPOTS. On the driver side, you move your head to near the window sill and then you adjust your driver side mirror outward so you can see the back edge of your car. On the passenger side, first you move your head to the center of the console and then you adjust the passenger side mirror outward so you can see the rear the car. What it does is that it moves both side mirrors more OUTWARD so you can cover the BLIND SPOTS that we never otherwise see. The typical position that most people have for the side mirrors shows us the area very near our car's two sides and our car's rear end, which is POINTLESS. Your center rear view mirror on the ceiling provides the coverage in between the two side mirrors. This technique is very effective. I have adjusted the side mirrors on my car and I can see what a big difference it made. Earlier I used to crane and bob my head around to see what was going on, but now with the new side mirror setting, I can SEE EVERYTHING IN THE BLIND SPOTS!! It takes some getting used to and feels weird at first, but soon you will realize how much better it is. For me, just this one tip alone about the side mirrors was well worth the time and our donation to BRAKES. Many thanks to the entire team at BRAKES.

Fantastic experience: Excellent!!!

Fantastic experience: This class is excellent! My son and his best friend took this course together. They ride a lot of places together and as parents of young drivers, we wanted them to be as prepared as possible. To have the knowledge of what to do in various traffic situations PRIOR to something happening cannot be overstated! Just today, my son informed me he had to use a “B.R.A.K.E.S move”. The car in front of him stopped short suddenly, and he was safely able to move of to the side and avoid a collision. I tell everyone to take this class! It’s fun and more importantly could save a life!

Fantastic experience: this training course is a must for new drivers and parents alike. my daughter and i learned so much in just 4 hours. the time flew by. they did a great job. i donated $150 and wish i could have given more. please pass the word and take the time to do this training with your teen. you will both benefit !

Fantastic experience: This is a amazing program! So worth taking! I think it should be mandatory for all drivers! I wish they had it for adults! This class could potentially save your child's life! I highly recommend this for anyone who is ellidagbe to take it! Please look into this if you have a new driver!

Positive experience: As a grandparent trying to enroll my grandson I found this very difficult to master I am not very tech savvy and was very frustrated with the entire process. I know he would benefit from this greatly and give me needed peace of mind. I will try again

Fantastic experience: Fantastic course and instructors! Will be sending my youngest son when he gets old enough. It was a superb class/course!

Fantastic experience: We brought our daughter to this class today. She was nervous at first. I think she did not want to come. When she got started, she relaxed and had a great time. The instructors are patient and really informative. The staff were friendly and helpful. We had a great time. I hope that more teens and families participate. I was nervous driving part of the course too. It was a wonderful learning experience for us.

Fantastic experience: Three kids of mine have now done this. An EXCELLENT Teen Driving program.

Fantastic experience: Great learning experience today! A must for teenage drivers and parents as well!

Fantastic experience: fantastic Instructors and program. Planning to send my teens as often as there is space available. Never too safe and too prepared!

Fantastic experience: Wonderful organization! My daughter and I truly enjoyed the event. I learned quite a bit, myself, from seating position, hand position on the steering wheel (and confirming what I've long taught re: positioning of side view mirrors to remove the "blindspot". My daughter has a greater appreciation now for the power of a vehicle (even a compact car) and that she has the ability to control the car much more capably now. I was glad to hear of the organization's plans to expand in 2018 to cover more states and I hope this growth continues to be able to cover larger cities multiple times throughout the year. Kudos to B.R.A.K.E.S.!

Fantastic experience: Excellent class the instructors were awesome should be mandatory for every new driver BMW offers the same class but it is a whole lot more Doug Herbert is extremely passionate about this and I highly recommend it to all new drivers they're really giving this class away for free for what they charge

Fantastic experience: Incredible learning experience for teen drivers (and parents)! Your kids will learn on real courses with real cars how to safely maneuver out of dangerous situations. Skids, road hazard avoidance, tires off the road, how to use antilock brakes, drunk driving, distracted driving - they cover it all. Our instructors were all professional racers or drivers with great instructional skills and a great message for kids and parents. Their success rate with teens avoiding accidents is phenomenal.

Fantastic experience: This program should be MANDATED for every young driver. It was a wonderful experience for my son. The staff was great, the instructors were clear and unambiguous about the safety needed to be a responsible driving. It was not only lecture (the smallest part of the class) but HANDS ON WITH TRAINED PROFESSIONALS from the drag racing community. The backstory of how BRAKES came into existence is pure heartbreak, but has given birth to a tool every young driver must and should have as they go forward out on the roads.