High School News
Safety SIMulator drives home message of road
safety
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| Safety
SIMulator provides teen drivers with realistic
experience. |
Let’s face it – life’s
lessons are best learned through experience.
Unfortunately, when the target audience is teens and safe
driving, experience is not the teacher of choice.
On Sept. 12, Port Jervis High School scheduled time throughout
the school day to expose teen drivers - one student at a time -
to the perils of unsafe driving conditions without putting them
at risk.
Through the
efforts of Port Jervis State Farm Insurance agent Jim Reyle, the
Pennsylvania Driving Under the Influence Association brought its
custom-engineered Safety SIMulator to the high school to engage
teen drivers in a unique interactive safety program. With its
real dashboard, steering wheel and driver's seat, the Safety
SIMulator provided students with realistic, hands-on experience
"behind the wheel."
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State Farm Insurance agent Jim Reyle helped to bring the
Safety SIMulator to Port Jervis High School. Jim and his
staff were also on hand to help steer students through
the unique driver ed. program.
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Programmed to simulate many adverse conditions - including snow,
fog , and heavy traffic - the Safety SIMulator allows
inexperienced drivers to see first-hand how inclement weather,
dangerous roads, and mechanical failures can impact their
safety.
Inexperience is the leading cause of automobile accidents among
teen drivers. "We've lost five of our students in the past year
- and all of the deaths were the result of inexperience
driving," said High School Principal Tony DeMarco. A former
driver's education teacher, DeMarco wants to make students aware
of the dangers associated with driving in unsafe conditions.
To help provide students with safe
driving skills and an appreciation for safety, DeMarco made
participation in the one-day driver safety program mandatory for
all students who want to drive to school.
More than 250 students went for "rides" in the simulator, which
took approximately 4 minutes to complete. "We were the first
high school in New York to benefit from the program," said
DeMarco.
A non-profit professional group, the PA DUI Association provides
support to schools and safety professionals throughout the state
of Pennsylvania. The organization, which is based in Harrisburg,
does not normally bring its traveling education program to New
York State.
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