Students drove police cars, skidded on pavement and ran over cones at Franklin Community High School on Wednesday, but the action was all part of a controlled experience to teach them how to be better drivers.
“Rule the Road” helped about 75 students who had learner’s permits and driver’s licenses in an all-day program at the high school. They were placed in controlled precarious situations to illustrate the dangers of driving and how to prepare for the unexpected.
The event is the first of its kind at Franklin Community High School. Franklin police officer and special events coordinator Brittany Floyd attended a similar program hosted by the Columbus Police Department, after which she brought the idea to Franklin, said Kirby Cochran, Franklin Police Chief.
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The Indiana Criminal Justice Institute covered the full cost of the event, while local sponsors pitched in to contribute lunch, beverages and giveaways such as t-shirts. Due to the amount of students who registered, the school might hold a second event later in the school year, as the waiting list has more than 20 students on it, he said.
At one station, students tried on goggles which simulated intoxication and attempted to drive golf carts around cones. Afterwards, they were given a field sobriety test while wearing the goggles. In another exercise, students drove in a straight line, and then had to swerve right or left depending on the last-second instruction of a Franklin police officer, who was sitting in the passenger’s seat.
Other activities included a distracted driving simulation, a modified car with a hardened composite material on the back wheels to induce skidding and a contest to see how fast students could put on seat belts in all four car seats.
“Driving my car through the course, I ran over a cone,” junior Olivia Moistner said. “I learned it’s easy to get distracted when my friends are in the back. The next thing you know I was going the wrong way and ran over a cone.”
Malachi Henry, a sophomore, said the stations helped teach him important lessons about driving while impaired, as well as how to best recover when he loses control of a vehicle.
“I learned not to push on the brake (when I lose control), it will shoot you in the other direction,” Henry said. “With the field sobriety (test), I don’t have depth perception and can’t see on the sides.”
While adults can get a DUI while driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08, anyone under the age of 21 can get one if they have any trace of alcohol in their system, Franklin police officer Joe Dillon said.
“With a DUI stop, we look for loss of balance, for (the driver) to follow the finger (with their eyes), if the driver is not maintaining speed or swerving between the lines,” Dillon said.
Mike White is a Wal-Mart truck driver and has been on the road for 43 years, logging more than 5 million miles, he said. He taught students about the blind spots of the truck, which includes a large area of its right side, the corners of the truck and immediately in front of the truck.
“If everyone drove like a semi (truck) driver, the road would be a lot safer,” White said.
With the distracted driving simulator, students were able to drive without distraction for the first 45 seconds, after which the people sitting next to them did whatever they could to distract them. The simulator also included bad drivers, pedestrians and deer in the road.
The experience of driving in a safe environment is an ideal way to prepare, Floyd said.
