Kentucky Teen Drivers Spend Time With Simulator

Posted & filed under Auto Safety, Kentucky Car Insurance, Teen Drivers.

If you’re a teen driver in Kentucky and get a special invitation from Fayette County attorney Larry Roberts, you can drive his car. Or at least, you can drive his simulator.

About three months ago, Roberts’ office bought an Ultra Interactive Driving Simulator for his county’s traffic diversion program, in which some drivers with certain kinds of traffic tickets can get those tickets expunged from their driving records by spending about an hour watching educational videos, listening to a police-provided lecture on safe driving, and completing four hours of community service. In addition, those participants who are between the ages of sixteen and eighteen are required to spend some time in the simulator.

Last week, during a diversion session in which five teenagers took turns on the simulator with guidance from Officer Jeff Jacobs of the Lexington police, Roberts explained, “This is primarily set up for kids. There are 300 different driving scenarios we can put somebody through on this.”

The simulator includes a driver’s seat complete with a seat belt and steering wheel, turn signals, brake and accelerator pedals, and a windshield made of three computer screens. Depending on what the driver is familiar with, either a manual or automatic transmission can be selected. Available scenarios include rainy and snowy weather (during which windshield wipers appear on-screen), heavy city traffic, and a dark country road with a deer arriving from nowhere.

As the driver moves through a scenario the simulator provides directions about things like speed and direction, and when a scenario ends – whether or not there’s an accident – the driver receives feedback about reaction times and other factors.

“When you put all of that together, it becomes more than a video game. It makes you pay attention to what’s going on,” Roberts said.