Lou Owens has a simple message to entice new drivers to his business, Badge Academy of Driving in Derby, which opened in June.
“I know what gets kids in trouble,” Owens, who retired from the Ansonia Police Department after nearly three decades, says.
Owens retired in March as a sergeant after 28 years on the job.
Who better to teach young people how to drive than a guy who used to pull them over?
The Valley Indy stopped by the business — at 117 New Haven Ave., phone number 203 – 516-5051 — Monday to talk with Owens about his new venture.
Valley Independent Sentinel: How did this all come about?
Lou Owens: “I had a knee replacement a year ago. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to go back to full duty or what, so I started looking for something else to do.”
VIS: Why’d you decide to open up the business?
LO: “I worked with the DARE program in Ansonia, I coordinated the program and taught the program. Although it’s a younger group of kids involved in that — your target group is fifth and sixth grade — I wanted to continue working with kids a little bit.
I’ve seen the ramifications of kids doing the wrong thing with their cars. I thought it’d be a good way to kind of give back to the community. If I could take my 28 years of experience in law enforcement and motor vehicle enforcement and impart some knowledge into these kids to keep them safe I thought it’d be a pretty cool thing to do.”
VIS: How does your police experience help in teaching safe driving?
LO: “I know what gets kids in trouble. I was on the enforcement end of it so I know what they do that gets them in trouble, so that’s one of the things I try to key on. “If you do this, this is going to happen. If you go too fast around a corner, you’re going to skid. If you skid, you’re going to run off the road and hit something.
I try to make it more interesting. I don’t just sit here and lecture. I try to put some stories, some personal stuff into it.”
VIS: So what is it that gets them in trouble the most? Speeding? Distracted driving?
LO: “Distracted driving I think right now is the top culprit out there — not even so much (people talking on) the cell phone right now, I think it’s more the texting than anything else. There’s just absolutely no way that you can effectively drive your vehicle while you’re texting on a phone. It just doesn’t happen.
We do parent classes here too … and I make sure I say that in front of the parents as well, because parents are just as bad.”
VIS: In the past several years the state has instituted graduated licensing, which limits who new drivers can have in their vehicles, as well as other restrictions. Is that a good idea?
LO: “Personally, I think the graduated license laws are an excellent step in the right direction. I wouldn’t mind seeing them be a little bit more strict.”
VIS: I’m glad those restrictions weren’t in place when I first got my license — as are the friends who would pile into my car.
LO: “I think we all did it.”
VIS: When you’re that age I guess you think you’re immortal.
LO: “That’s the biggest problem, I think, with these kids. They have no fear. And I don’t know if they would see me as an authority figure because of my previous experience or not, but I just try to tell them, ‘Hey look, you do this and you’re going to get yourself in trouble.’”
VIS: People in general speed too much, it seems.
LO: “If you take a GPS unit and program it, say you’re taking a two- or three-hour trip, it’s going to give you an approximate time of arrival. If you get on the highway and drive at 80, 85 mph vs. 65 mph if you’re on 95 or 91, you’re only going to pick up a couple minutes an hour. It’s not like it’s going to cut your trip time in half or something. What’s the point? You increase your chances for a crash, you decrease your fuel economy. It’s a lose-lose all the way around. And hopefully the kids get that.”
