Tulsa traffic simulators help keep police on safe path
BY LARRY LEVY
Published: March 21, 2009
A simulator operated by officer Larry Edwards shows what happens in a computer-generated accident. Photo by LARRY LEVY, FOR THE OKLAHOMAN
TULSA — Traffic accidents are the leading cause of fatalities among on-duty law officers, said Capt. Travis Yates, head of the Tulsa police precision driving unit.
To improve decision-making skills and decrease the potential for accidents, Tulsa police have invested $500,000 in driver training simulators, Yates said.
The police department can teach people how to drive — steer, brake, accelerate — but "that doesn’t do anything for decision-making or collision avoidance,” Yates said.
The simulators let officers encounter 100 stressful scenarios in rural and urban settings, he said.
Among them are busy intersections with buses, trucks and pedestrians; areas where dogs dash into the street; and pursuits that wind from city streets through parking lots or along narrow, twisting country roads.
Instructors can set up situations in which officers in each of the four $100,000 simulators must pursue the same suspect, Yates said.
If a maneuver is not accomplished safely, the simulator sounds out the noises of a crash, the windshield fractures and the word "COLLISION” flashes in big red letters.
An instant replay with an outside-the-car view shows the student where the errors were, and an objective score is given.
The simulator has the usual car controls — ignition key, gear shift, steering wheel, gas and brake pedals, seat belt — plus light and siren controls.
The initial training for Tulsa officers takes 40 hours — a day each in the classroom, on the simulators and at a track, and two days at the city’s vehicle training center.
Tulsa patrol officers receive refresher training every two years.
Source http://newsok.com/tulsa-traffic-simulators-help-keep-police-on-safe-path/article/3355186
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