Springfield and state officials hope the new driving simulators will improve the driving habits of all of its residents.
Most are strategically located where the city's Haitian residents frequent. Churches, nonprofits and various agencies are also heavily promoting the units to this community with the goal of helping individuals improve their driving skills.
Gov. Mike DeWine unveiled the simulator at High Street Church of the Nazarene in Springfield. Eleven others are spread across the city aspart of a larger effort to help Haitian newcomers learn U.S. driving laws.
"Some of the people who are here driving probably for the first time," DeWine said. "The laws and the norms of Haiti are just fundamentally different, as far as driving, than they are here."
Van Burns, sales director for VDI, which isthe simulator’s manufacturer, demonstrated one of the units at Nazarene. It has 16 programs that teach skills such as speed control, navigating distractions and following distance in traffic. Participants can also practice driving in various weather conditions.
Each site will have an interpreter and an instructor who will train students. Over the next few weeks, locations will open for appointments. There is no fee for the training.
Some youth skipping driver education
Five of these simulators are at Clark State College and Springfield-Clark Career Technology Center. DeWine said he’s glad they’re in schools, hoping they will address another troubling issue.
"Driving is a performance based skill. You've got to practice it."
"One of the things we're seeing is a number of our young people, frankly, don't get their driver's license when they're 15.5 or 16. They wait until 18 and then they don't have to take driver's training," DeWine said. "If you look at the statistics, the highest mortality rate fatal accident rate is among 18 and 19 year olds."
According to Ohio law, if you're 18, you can get a license without taking driver's training. That's a law DeWine wants to change.
"Whatever age you are, if you're getting your license for the first time, you need to take driver's training," said DeWine.
According to DeWine, these simulators are tools that need to be combined with other drivers’ education programs.
"By allowing drivers to experience potential dangers behind the wheel without being behind the wheel, without putting themselves or others at risk," DeWine said. "The simulators are equipped with custom software that teaches skills essential to safe driving."
Simulator donors 'want to save someone'
Dom and Terri Tiberi donated seven of these units through The Maria Tiberi Foundation. Their way of honoring their daughter who was killed in a 2013 crash. Terri says these simulators can give parents peace of mind knowing their young people have some hands-on experience.
"You weren't built to bury your children. You just weren't," Tiberi said. "So I want to save somebody from having to do that."
The simulators are for people of all ages who want to strengthen their driving skills. Van Burns says one of the best things these units can do is bolster a student's confidence.
"Driving is a performance based skill. You've got to practice it. You can read about it, movies are great. All that is helpful. But it's layers of learning and you’ve got to practice it," Burns said. "And the beauty of simulation is it builds confidence. You keep doing it to get it right. Then it's those skills transfer to real driving and ultimately provide the performance for which you’re looking."
