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(Car engine sounds) What we're trying to do here is
give the kids an opportunity to learn advanced driving skills.
We would much rather have the opportunity to teach kids
advanced driving skills out here in this training environment
rather than have them involved in a crash out on the roadway.
(Simulator) Turn right ahead
The driving simulator, which has been provided to us by the Simulation Technology
Corporation,
allows us to control
all the elements of the driving scenarios to put them through different,
challenging courses.
Most drivers don't know how to change a tire. So, we give them the opportunity
to be instructed by a trooper
on how to change a tire and do it safely out on the roadway.
The controlled braking exercise teaches the students
how to
use the vehicles' brakes to their maximum potential
while maintaining control
of the vehicle as they steer
around an object and come back under control into their own lane.
The purpose of the evasive maneuvering exercise is to teach the teens that it's
easier to steer around an object than it is to stop before striking it. This applies
to a scenario
if they had come across an object or a hazzard
in the roadway and need to steer around it
quickly,
they know that they can do that with the skills that they learned
here.
The serpentine exercise is a row of six cones, forty-five feet apart.
The students are instructed to weave in and out of the cones. And what that teaches them
is smooth handling of the vehicle.
It teaches them smooth throttle and steering
techniques
along with gets them familiar with the nine-three hand position.
Our off-road recovery exercise gives the kids a chance to experience
what it's like to drop two wheels off the edge of the road
or four wheels off the edge of the road and teaches them not to panic.
It teaches them a specific technique in bringing the vehicle back up on the
road safely without incident.
One of the advance features of the precision driving unit
is our three acre skid pad.
We can take the kids out
onto the skid pad
where it's as slippery as hard-packed snow and teach them how to
recognize a skid.
and also teach them how
to regain control of the vehicle
if they lose control, and this is done in a safe environment
where there are no hazzards and the potential for somebody to get hurt.
That was awesome! Pretty cool. Fun.
(Off camera) What do you think you learned the most?
Skidding. Probably the drifting. No the skid. I call it a skid. Drifting.
The skid track.
All those doughnuts. It's hard.
(Off camera) Well mom, what do you think? (Mom) Awesome. Wonderful I'm excited. She knows how to change a tire now. So, if I get a flat tire, she can change it.
Or, she can teach me now. I think this ought to be a requirement for every
teenager before they get their driver's license,
to go through this.
They have no idea how the car behaves until after they get their license and get in.
(Dad) I had the chance to
do the one where
you're going down the center and you go
thirty, thirty-five, then forty
left to right. I was thinking of you. (Son) I know I went the wrong way. I went the wrong way.
Getting behind the wheel of a actual police car
and going through skids and and going through the evasive manuevers.
It's really gonna help them out.
It was a great opportunity and I'm glad they were involved in it.
Overall, I hope it's here for many years to come. I have
a younger daughter and
it would be great to see her go through it.