Schuylkill Valley students learn about driving dangers from DUI simulator
Young drivers say the lesson opened their eyes to potential hazards on the road
Sean Reali knows firsthand the dangers teenagers can face when driving, since it was less than two years ago when a drunken driver crashed into his daughter’s car along Route 222 near Reading.
His daughter, then a high school student, survived the crash. It was a terrifying experience for her, he said.
As an insurance agent for State Farm, Reali also knows that motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 cause of death among teens nationwide. So on May 13 Reali was at Schuylkill Valley High School with the Pennsylvania DUI Safety Simulator, which allows young drivers to experience and understand how hazardous distractions and impaired driving can be.
The simulator is a virtual driving experience that allows students to sit in a car cockpit with working instruments and a threescreen,120-degree view.
Located in a trailer parked outside the school, the simulator created impaired driving scenarios in which the driver or other vehicles on the road were being operated by someone under the influence.
The entire senior class took part in small groups, with many getting to try the simulator and the rest watching.
System operator Aaron Gold of the Pennsylvania DUI Association, which takes the simulator to schools across Pennsylvania each spring, sat at a nearby computer and took drivers through a variety of scenarios such as bad weather and unexpected mistakes by other motorists.
It’s a risk-free setting that allows drivers to gain a better understanding of the hazards associated with impaired, inattentive and inexperienced driving, and is especially effective with younger people who grew up playing video games, Gold said.
Traditionally the only way for new drivers to gain experience was to practice in the family car with a parent, or to incur the cost of a driver’s education instructor, said officials from State Farm, which hosted the simulator visit.
That often leaves new drivers with limited time behind the wheel and feeling uncertain about their driving skills, so the simulator helps supplement that, they said.
“It’s all about situational awareness,” Reali said. “We want to put them in bad situations behind the wheel so when they’re driving they’ll look at things differently. I know I look at things differently now than I did then.”
This is the right time of year for novice drivers to get that lesson, he said, since prom and graduation season often brings an increase in crashes for teenagers.
Among the students who tried the simulator was another daughter of Reali, Tori, a junior.
Tori Reali said she found the lesson valuable. She referred to a truck that abruptly backed in front of her on screen, something she wasn’t expecting.
“I’ll definitely keep a better eye out for other people now,” she said.
Junior Cassidy Smith said she’ll drive a little slower after experiencing the simulator.
“It’s good at showing you that things can happen that you can’t control,” she said.
Senior Michael Weber said he also learned from the experience.
“It showed how quickly things can happen,” he said. “When I’m driving I’ll be thinking about that more.”