ATLANTA -

Manheim’s flagship facility recently held a community program designed to foster road safety among teenagers by offering defensive driving courses targeted toward 15- to 19-year-olds.

Manheim Pennsylvania Auto Auction hosted the Lion’s Club Be Responsible And Keep Everyone Safe defensive driving courses, where teens were taught techniques to maintain control of their vehicles in hazardous — yet common — situations.

Among the controlled exercises during the B.R.A.K.E.S courses were an accident avoidance course, a distraction course, a drop wheel/off road recovery course, a panic stop course and a wet skid pad course.

The inaugural event brought in more than 160 local teenages and their parents.

“Tragically, our community recently experienced losses due to teen driving accidents, including three children of our own customers,” said Tim Van Dam, vice president and general manager of Manheim Pennsylvania. “When we heard about this program, we jumped in. If it saves one life, it will be worth every financial and facility resource we contribute.”

Clayton Stitzel, a Lions Club member whose idea it was to bring the event to the auction, added: “This weekend’s inaugural Manheim Lions Club B.R.A.K.E.S. event at Manheim Pennsylvania was a huge success in every conceivable metric. The parents were blown away; the kids were inspired and enlightened and the community is beaming with pride. We really feel the path for a new and better way to teach our kids safe driving skills has been blazed.”

The next local B.R.A.K.E.S course will be hosted by the auction Nov. 3–4.More information about the program can be found at http://www.putonthebrak