A driven Schein offers tips for the road

The College junior's new book provides an alternative to traditional driving manuals. Four years ago, College junior Michael Schein was like most 16-year-olds, eagerly anticipating that monumental trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles and the freedom that would come with his driver's license. Four years ago, Alan Schein thought taking his son on a lengthy road trip -- say, one from the family summer lodgings in Ventnor, N.J. to their home in Miami, Fla. -- would be an appropriate prerequisite to this rite-of-passage. Somewhere between Ventnor and Miami, Alan Schein realized his son was oblivious to a few vital rules of the road that seemed like second-nature to him -- like signaling before turning or slowing down before turning. "My dad and I got in all sorts of fights," Schein recalled of the trip that was the initial inspiration for his new book, Teenage Roadhogs. "There are so many things you come to learn from experience -- things you should learn from an instructor before you hit the highway after a party driving around [with] five drunk friends, which is how it usually happens." In Teenage Roadhogs, which is published by Macmillan, now-English major Schein took it upon himself to educate young drivers -- humorously -- about what he calls "common sense tips" for driving. He hopes to save his readers the grief -- and their parents the frustration -- of driving cluelessly. "Keep a serious, somber expression while driving with your parents," warns the seventh chapter, "How to get the car." "Many parents believe that playing loud, fun music while driving will inevitably lead to you becoming overexcited, losing control of the car, destroying the car, and killing everyone in it," Schein writes. Other chapters tackle issues like "The Bladder and the Bowels," common -- though not-often-admitted -- fears of driving (such as "fear of changing lanes" and "fear of parallel parking") and how to "break" the news of a fender-bender to parents. But the book also dabbles in more serious driving issues -- like "oh my gosh" vehicle registration, driving under the influence of marijuana and carbon monoxide poisoning -- serving as an alternative to the dry driver's education manuals distributed at most high schools. "It started out as just funny stories," said Schein, explaining that two incidents -- a friend of the family losing his legs in a car accident with a careless driver and a talk with an agent at Macmillan -- compelled him to do some further research. "For it to really have a purpose, and for it to really sell, [research] was a necessary evil," Schein said. "I called up all the DMVs and all that stuff. And it's not over yet." Now, Schein is campaigning to make the required driver's examination "more stringent." Talk show host Oprah Winfrey called the other day, asking if he would appear on a show debating the 16-year driving age. And that's just the tip of the public relations iceberg. "I'm trying to write letters, to really get this publicized," said Schein, who added that he thinks his book is better preparation for driving than the average driver's manual. "I seriously put off getting my license because I didn't want to read the book," he recalled. "It was just boring."

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