POMONA, Calif. – Behind the wheel, life happens in an instant. Top fuel dragster Doug Herbert, who is from Villa Park originally, who races at the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona knows this as well as anyone. At 300 miles per hour, everything is a blur.

“One of the things that we talk to parents and teenagers about is when I’m driving that race car 330 miles per hour, guess what I’m thinking about? I’m thinking about one hundred percent focusing on driving that car and making sure I’m safe because my life depends on it,” says Herbert.

Herbert is the creator of B.R.A.K.E.S., Be Responsible And Keep Everyone Safe, a defensive driving school for teens and their parents.

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“Parents from Southern California are like, ‘Well it doesn’t ever snow here.’ Well guess what, after it rains when it hasn’t rained for months, the roads are slick,” he says.

From slalom exercises to distracted-driving practice, Herbert and his crew of professional drivers travel nationally 40 weeks a year and so far have helped 40,000 teens and their parents learn the value of safe driving.

“We’re not trying to make money on them. It’s a free program. We’re here to try to teach them some life-saving skills. And one of the things we do differently than a lot of other programs is require the parents to come because most of the teenagers learn about driving from parents,” says Herbert.

While you would be right to think that it’s his track record as a driver that makes him a great instructor, the program exists because of his loss as a father. In January 2008, Herbert received a call no parent should ever have to receive, his two sons Jon and James were killed in a car accident.

Seventeen-year-old Jon was driving recklessly and he and his 12-year-old brother died on impact.

“They were just great kids. And the point that I always try to make to other teenagers and other parents is, ‘Hey, I know your teenager might be a good kid.’ Trust me, my teenagers, they were good kids. But car crashes is also the number one cause of fatalities in the country,” says Herbert.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens. In 2017 six teens aged 16-19 died every day to motor vehicle crashes with hundreds more suffering injuries.

“We get feedback all the time. Almost every day we get letters, phone calls, e-mails from parents and teenagers that have actually had the experience they learned here at B.R.A.K.E.S. has helped saved their life at one point or another. And one of the things they’ll tell their parents, ‘Hey, thanks for taking me to that B.R.A.K.E.S. program. What I learned there actually helped save me from getting in a car crash. So that’s when we do a big high-five at the office because that’s the reason why we do this,” Herbert says.

To Herbert, there is only one acceptable number.

“Zero. Zero’s the only acceptable number,” Herbert says.

Hoping to make it so no teen is a statistic.