The free national teen pro-active driving school B.R.A.K.E.S. – standing for Be Responsible and Keep Everyone Safe – chose Sonoma Raceway as the location for their Northern California debut January 20 and 21. Welcoming a full house at each of the five training sessions over the weekend, teens and parents learned first-hand from the impactful training exercises, including distracted driving awareness, panic braking, crash avoidance, drop-wheel/off-road recovery and car control/skid recovery. 

B.R.A.K.E.S. was founded in 2008 by Top Fuel Drag Racing Champion Doug Herbert, following the tragic car crash deaths of his two sons. Since then, he has vowed to do everything in his power to give teens all the tools they need to avoid car-related incidents. Herbert joined the groups on-site for the weekend sessions. 

Car crashes are among the leading causes of death for teens. Through their participation in the pro-active defensive driving programs, graduates of B.R.A.K.E.S. are 64 percent less likely to get in a crash within their first three years of driving, according to an independent study conducted by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In the past 15 years, over 130,000 teens and parents have been trained by the program in various locations around the country. 

Sonoma Raceway is proud to work with B.R.A.K.E.S. and host the program at its world-class motorsports venue, and the two organizations hope to make Northern California roadways even safer as they look to repeat the program later in the year.