[FastCarFan]

Rob,

Very glad to hear your son & his passengers are okay. I assume (hope) they were wearing their seat-belts. I have 2 boys -- 18 & 22 -- & I have told them that they are not allowed to have any passengers in the car who are not wearing a seat-belt. Period. No exceptions.

I have been lucky with my boys. I sent them both to the Mid-Ohio Teen Defensive Driving School. They practiced hard braking & steering in the wet with ABS off & on, emergency lane changes & spent lots of time in the skid-car. I was able to observe the classroom sessions for son #2 & it was great. They talked about contact patches, not making the tires do more than one thing at a time (stop, turn or accelerate), weight transfer, etc. It was taught by Tommy Byrne, an ex-racer with a lot of experience. It cost me $315/kid & I figure if its prevents even one accident it is $ well spent. Heck, my deductible is $1,000!

As an interesting topic of discussion, ask you son what he would do differently if he were in the same situation again. Make him think about the situation & what contributed to the accident. What did he learn? We all make mistakes -- it is important to learn from our mistakes so we don't repeat them. I have heard mistakes referred to as "tuition". It sounds like it was too much speed for conditions. Hopefully he has gained a healthy respect for cold weather & ice.

Again, I am very, very glad he & everyone else is okay. Wouldn't it be terrible if one of his passengers had been seriously injured or killed?