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The News
Saturday, January 1, 2014 • 5
Virtual car helps cops avoid real crashes
By John Ruch
[email protected]
www.rockdalenews.com/multimedia/516/
C
Luckily, the scenario was just
a game of sorts. The chase was
not on the streets of Conyers.
It happened inside an air-conditioned trailer parked behind
City Hall, where officers are
training on a virtual-reality driving simulator machine.
Like a race-car game in a video arcade, the device features a
steering wheel, pedals and full
dashboard — including a key in
the ignition and working air-conditioning vents. Three video
screens give realistic peripheral
vision and feature virtual rearview mirrors.
The simulator is provided for
CPD Officer Scot McGinnis
straps in for a driving
simulation training session.
www.rockdalenews.com/multimedia/516/
free by the Georgia Municipal ficers on duty is vehicle colliAssociation to local govern- sions,” Trotter said on the mornments that use its liability and ing of May 28, when the News
workers comp insurance. The was invited to observe McGinngoal is give police officers, am- is’s training.
Trotter drives the trailer around
bulance drivers and firefighters
Georgia,
extra training
The number one cause of training varin avoiding car
crashes.
death for law enforcement ious departments whose
David Trotter
officers on duty is vehicle
patches
of Local Govcollisions.
decorate
ernment Risk
— David Trotter the
trailManagement
er’s walls.
Services, an exHe trained
cop who operates the device, told the News that Rockdale County Sheriff’s Ofthe training reduces insurance lia- fice deputies in April. Then he
bility by improving public safety. pulled the trailer behind Conyers
“The number one cause of City Hall on May 1 to train city
death for law enforcement of- officers through June 5.
“
“
onyers Police
Officer
Scot
McGinnis is in
hot pursuit of a fleeing
carjacker.
His cruiser’s lights flash
and siren blares. He carefully dodges careless civilians who run stop signs
or dart into the road on
bicycles. Suddenly, a car
appears in his path, pulling in front of him from
behind a parked van. The
windshield shatters as the
police cruiser slams into
the car broadside.
Game over.
McGinnis told the News he already had extensive emergency
driving training when he joined
the force five years ago. He’s
already been in two high-speed
pursuits of robbery suspects, one
of them at speeds of nearly 110
m.p.h. on I-20. And his training
“came in handy in the [recent]
snowstorm,” he said.
“I don’t really know what to
expect from this” specialized
training, McGinnis said before
the test. But he later mentioned
he had a leg up: “I play a lot of
video games,” including “World
of Warcraft.”
Before driving the virtual car,
however, Trotter gave McGinnis
an exam on traffic laws and de-
Darrell Everidge/The News
fensive driving techniques. McGinnis took an early classroom
course on those.
When it was time to use the
simulator, the first step was to
buckle a real-life seat belt attached to the seat.
“You wear your seat belt in the
patrol car, right?” Trotter asked
with a skeptical tone.
McGinnis said he does, but the
fact is, many officers don’t follow that basic safety step. Trotter
mentioned last week’s death of a
Franklin County sheriff’s deputy
in a crash that ejected him, possibly because he was not wearing a
seat belt.
“I just trained that officer about
a month ago,” Trotter said. It’s one