Eric Peterson Applies SCCA Solo Skills to Day Job

SCCA Solo events focus on competition and having fun with cars, but as any competitor knows, they also improve driving skill. This is a principle that autocrosser Eric Peterson is applying to his day job. Since 2000, Peterson has headed the Town of Hillsborough, N.C.’s Slower Is Faster police driving safety program. The program focuses on decision-making behind the wheel and was recently awarded the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund’s Destination Zero 2016 Officer Traffic Safety Award. Destination Zero focuses on initiatives to lower the risk of officer injuries and death.

Since April 2000, the town has had only three at-fault collisions with major damage involving Hillsborough officers. No citizens were injured in collisions with police in that timeframe. “The bottom line is that the HPD officers deserve a lot of credit for implementing what they’ve learned in training — to exercise caution and good decision-making,” Peterson said. “This is not easy to do when under stress and feeling the urgency to get to calls.”

The Slower Is Faster program covers a wide array of driving skills and challenges officers’ decision-making while engaged in high-stress driving. Braking, navigating turns and correcting skids are covered during in-car training, but they take a back seat to decision-making, situational awareness and skills that allow officers to remain in control and avoid collisions. Training courses for the program include “decision stations,” which are a series of unpredictable challenges or obstacles that require officers to decide what to do based on visual cues down the road, encouraging officers to look ahead. Distractions also are placed around the course to encourage officers to practice visual scanning techniques. Some training is held at a go-kart track to assist with the focus areas.

Over the past four years, the Slower Is Faster program has grown to include officers from 52 agencies through the two days of driver training sponsored by the League of Municipalities. The insurance provider reports seeing a 20-percent decrease in vehicle-related insurance claims among those agencies.

More information on the Hillsborough Police Department’s efforts can be found here. For more information on Destination Zero, click here. Below is a video from this year’s training.