Friday, March 29, 2024

HCSO ‘hits the road’ in driving simulator

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Members of the Hood County Sheriff’s Office recently found themselves in the driver’s seat — literally.

During a four-hour defensive driving course last week held at the Hood County Emergency Operations Center, officers experienced a hands-on approach in their training with the use of an innovative driving simulator provided by the Texas Association of Counties.

“My goal is to use the driving simulator to reduce cost to the county by reducing collisions and injuries to county drivers,” said Don Courtney, driving simulator consultant with TAC, in the press release.

TAC’s driving simulator creates real-world driving conditions in a high-tech environment that replicates situations drivers may actually encounter while on the road.

Housed in a 20-foot trailer, the driving simulator features three 48-by-36-inch monitors that act as a car windshield and a driver’s side and passenger side window.

A car interior dashboard is situated below the screens, complete with a steering wheel, brakes, gear shift, accelerator, speedometer and a police scanner/radio.

Hood County Sheriff’s Office Cpl. Bryan Burgess and Sgt. Brad Duckett were the first to try out the experience.

In the first simulation, Courtney asked Burgess and Duckett to honk every time they saw a red vehicle or a pedestrian wearing red as a way of testing their observation skills.

The next simulation tested the officers’ evasive driving by using an “obstacle course” of cars and pedestrians. To make the test difficult, Courtney removed the brakes in the simulation and told the officers to keep their speed below 25 mph.

The last simulation required Duckett and Burgess to follow a black truck that contained a suspect whom Courtney said was wanted for armed robbery. Duckett and Burgess each turned on their sirens and chased after the “suspect,” all the while maneuvering around cars and pedestrians while crossing intersections.

“What is crazy about that is how realistic the way the intersections are,” Duckett said. “It's really like that when we're trying to get through intersections when cars are coming through. You would think that (people would stop) with lights, sirens and multiple units coming through, but people just keep driving; they just don't pay attention.”

During Burgess’ pursuit simulation, the suspect opened fire and shot at the “car’s windshield.” As Burgess was unable to get out of the simulation vehicle to pursue the suspect, he had no choice but to hit the suspect with his vehicle.

“He did shoot at you; that’s deadly force,” Courtney said. “Obviously, we don’t advocate running people over, but when they’re shooting at you and there’s a bullet hole right there in the windshield, they might go over and take other hostages.”

“It's close to real,” Burgess said, on the driving simulator. “But there’s different scenarios. There's small factors like in that pursuit, you're already out of the car and you're gonna be returning fire, but it's pretty realistic, especially how pedestrians and vehicles act.”

The TAC Risk Management Pool Driving Simulator Program began in 2000. Since its launch, more than 25,400 county drivers in over three-quarters of the state’s counties have used it to enhance their ability to make life-saving, split-second decisions in often dangerous driving conditions.

“Basically, what it's all about is life safety, and because the more they act and react to certain things, then they also do that out there as well,” Courtney said. “You could tell the sergeant and the corporal, they're experienced. They went through the intersections and didn't have any problems. They stopped or cleared slowly, but so many bust through there and get hit — that's one of the problems we have.”

TAC’s simulator has logged more than 1 million miles traveling across the state and training drivers at no cost to the counties.

“Studies have shown that driver-training programs effectively reduce risks while educating drivers on safe-driving measures,” Courtney stated in the press release. “Even professional drivers can slip into bad habits behind the wheel. The simulator training reinforces good driving habits that help improve employee safety and make them better prepared for the unexpected.”

For more information on the driving simulator and other services TAC provides to counties, visit county.org