News on Toyota Car Control Challenge
August 15, 2008
FOX 19 FEATURES TOYOTA CAR CONTROL CHALLENGE
FOX 19 in Cincinnati featured the Toyota Car Control Challenge during a news segment this week. A video of the segment is available here in the 'Street Safe Teens' section of their Website.
July 17, 2008
NOW THE REAL FUN BEGINS
The third Car Control Challenge--Skill Testing—begins this Saturday and Sunday at Fairfield High School, announced David Thompson, president of Advanced Car Control Techniques, ACCT, the creators of the Toyota Car Control Challenge contest. High-scoring competitors from the first two challenges, the Attitude essay and the Knowledge test will begin competing for entrance into the Grand Championships to win a brand new Toyota Matrix and a $10,000 cash college fund in September. There are $1000 prizes for category winners including a Mom and a Dad.
The tests will be conducted in a fleet of new Toyota Corollas, Matrix, and Scions. Testing is reserved for registered contestants and spaces are limited to 6 test days, July 19-20 at Fairfield, August 2-3 at Ryle High School in Kentucky and August 9-10 at Sycamor High School in Blue Ash. The current scores of these contestants and the current rankings of regions, high schools and the dealer teams can be seen on the Scoreboard.
In the Skill Challenge competitors will demonstrate their car placement skills, emergency braking, crash avoidance skills and visual skills in several test exercises including a crash avoidance maneuver and the challenge of running over small cups of sand on command.
“It’s an old cliché but this is really where the ‘rubber meets the road,’ says Thompson, who along with his instructor corps will time, measure and score each driver as they pass through 2 laps of the course, “With the best lap being the qualifier, just like NASCAR”, says Thompson, with a wink. He goes on to say that all the exercises are performed at 25mph or less for complete safety.
These exercises were developed in ACCT’s 15 year old program for teens and parents called The New Driver Car Control Clinics. The Car Control Challenge is sponsored by the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota dealers and by the Cincinnati Teen Drivers Fund plus ACCT. The main purpose of the Challenge contest is to honor and promote safe and successful young drivers who demonstrate effective attitudes, valuable knowledge and effective driving skills, the combination that Thompson and Toyota have proven reduces teen crashes.
June 5, 2008
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING ● THE CAR CONTROL CHALLENGE SCOREBOARD
The Toyota Car Control Challenge™ announced today the launch of their live, real time, electronic Scoreboard at www.toyotacarcontrolchallenge.com/scoreboard.php.
The Car Control Challenge Scoreboard electronically reports the scores and averages of every contestant, high school, region and dealer “Team” in real time as contestants submit their work on the three challenges. The scoreboard is the way for contestants, families, friends and the public to track the progress of this area-wide competition for young drivers.
“We wanted to create a way for all the players and interested parties to keep track of everyone’s progress through the next three months leading to the Grand Championships in September,” said David Thompson, president of Advanced Car Control Techniques the organizers of the Challenge program.
Sponsored by The Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers and The Cincinnati Teen Drivers Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation. The Car Control Challenge consists of a five-month competition among 6 age and gender brackets of young drivers and parents to crown a Grand Champion Driver in September. The winner will drive away with a $10,000 college fund and 2008 Toyota Matrix, plus there are cash prizes for category winners and high schools.
This is the largest competition for young drivers to demonstrate their attitudes, knowledge and skills in the USA. But there’s more. There are also slots in the contest for Moms and Dads who can win cash for demonstrating their skills as well.
Eligible drivers can register at www.toyotacarcontrolchallenge.com/register.php. Contestants have until July 30th to complete the first two Challenges, the Attitude Essay and the Knowledge Test. After that they may be eligible for the third Challenge, the Skill Test driving brand new Toyotas in cone patterns to test their Car Control skills.
May 20, 2008
The Toyota Car Control Challenge™ announced today the opening of the second phase of The Challenges for contestants, The Knowledge Challenge, a 50-question, multiple choice test on road rules, road signs and markings and road safety. The Toyota Car Control Challenge is a 5-month contest for all drivers 16-19 in the Greater Cincinnati, northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana, leading to a Grand Championship event in September where the Grand Champion driver will win a $10,000 college fund plus a new Toyota Matrix.
The first two Challenges, Attitude Essay and Knowledge Test, are qualifiers leading to the final Challenge, Skill Testing. Sponsored by the Toyota Dealers of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky and the Cincinnati Teen Drivers Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, The Toyota Car Control Challenge is an effort to promote and reward excellence in safe driving among young drivers. But it also offers championships for a Mom and a Dad. The theme of the contest is “Show us what you’ve got!”
Spokesman David Thompson, president of The New Driver Car Control Clinics®, the organizers of The Car Control Challenges said, “The Toyota Dealers, the other sponsors and we felt that this is a good way to raise public awareness of the need for greater training and motivation of young drivers to help make them crash-free. Traditional driver education only goes so far. And we thought that this was a way to say something positive about those young drivers who are successful in their early years because of the attitudes, knowledge and skills.”
Registration started April 1, with the launch of www.toyotacarcontrolchallenge.com where registration and testing occurs. The Attitude Essay Challenge began May 1 and now The Knowledge Challenge begins. Registration and testing for all of the Challenges will continue through July 30, with final Skill testing in August and the Grand Championships in September.
In The Challenge there are four area Regional Championships, Eastern, Northern, Western and Kentucky for 6 classes of contestant, boys 16-17, girls 16-17, boys 18-19, girls 18-19 plus a Mom and a Dad, over $40,000 in cash and prizes. Interested young drivers and parents should go to www.toyotacarcontrolchallenge.com for further details and registrations.
Ladies and Gentlemen, start your mice.
May 1, 2008
The Toyota Car Control Challenge™ announced today the launch of the Attitude Challenge essay test for registered contestants. Working with one of the premier testing companies in the country, McCann Associates, contestants will be able to select among nine essay topics to create a 700-800 word essay such as The top ten reasons why my attitude will keep me from crashing. Contestants must have successfully registered, activated their account, and then they can log in to their home page to find more information and a link to the testing site.
April 1, 2008
The Toyota Car Control Challenge™, a six-month long contest to test and crown champion safe drivers from the Tri-State area was recently announced by New Driver Car Control Clinic and the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers Group. Starting April 1, contestants will register for the contest, and then be tested on three aspects of crash avoidance and safe driving; Attitudes, Knowledge and Car Control Skills. Young drivers in the region, between 16 and 19, are eligible to enter and win the Grand Champion Award – a $10,000 four-year college scholarship, and a new 2008 Toyota.
David Thompson, Founder and President of New Driver Car Control Clinics for young drivers and their parents, which is the leading hands-on, in-car trainer of crash avoidance techniques in the U.S., said, “We have long searched for a way to reward the positive behaviors and skills of young drivers, and now Toyota Motor Sales USA and their Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Area Dealers are supporting our efforts. This is an opportunity to focus on and reward the good behaviors of crash free drivers who represent the majority of young drivers but make no headlines or news features.
“World-wide, the number one cause of loss of young lives between the ages of 15 and 19 is automobile crashes,” says George Joseph of Joseph Toyota, “and we Toyota Dealers are happy to join this effort to promote public awareness of improved driving skills and behaviors.” The program is also being supported by the Cincinnati Teen Drivers Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation led by Marc Comisar who lost his daughter to a single car crash in 2002.
Awards will be made in four young driver categories, Boys 16-17, Girls 16-17, Boys 18-19, Girls 18-19, plus a Mom and a Dad and a Grand Champion. In addition, there will be an intramural championship between high schools in four Tri-State divisions, Eastern, Western, and Northern Hills of Cincinnati plus Northern Kentucky.
Contestants will be scored first on their original essay demonstrating their Attitude toward crash-free driving, then on their Knowledge of safe driving, and finally on their Car Control Skills. Much of this testing will be conducted on the Toyota Car Control Challenge web site now under development. The final challenge, Car Control Skills, will be conducted on training ranges in a fleet of Toyota vehicles provided by Toyota Motor Sales USA.
The Toyota Car Control Challenge will be presented to parents and contestants in April on the Web site and via a schedule of TV and radio announcements and advertising. In addition to Toyota, the Challenge team is seeking additional support from Associate Sponsors for each of the award category Championship Cups. Interested sponsor organizations and volunteers should contact us.
To view TV coverage, go to www.wcpo.com. Search for "Teen Car Challenge" and select the story from the list. Then select the video on the upper right.
