Connecticut Children's opens the first of its kind, teen driver simulator center, thanks to the allstate foundation

news Release - August 2010

Connecticut Children's Medical Center continues to show its commitment to the safety of teenage drivers with the Aug. 18 grand opening of the Connecticut Children's Teen Driving Simulator Center.

The center, which is located at 1845 Silas Deane Highway, Rocky Hill, is made possible with a $50,000 grant from The Allstate Foundation. The Department of Motor Vehicles' Center for Teen Safe Driving is also partnering with Connecticut Children's in sponsoring and promoting the driving simulator center. It includes eight computer-based virtual driving simulators that allow teen drivers to experience a 12-lesson program that can help improve driving skills by creating realistic scenarios that challenge inexperienced drivers. Since 2007, the Allstate Foundation has donated approximately $125,000 to Connecticut Children’s teen driving safety efforts.

“Traumatic injury is the leading cause of death for children and teens in Connecticut, and motor vehicle crashes are the most common cause of traumatic injury,” said Brendan Campbell, MD, MPH, director of pediatric trauma at Connecticut Children’s. “The teen driving simulator technology is both an educational tool for teens and a screening method to identify teen drivers who are at an increased risk of being in a car crash.”

Dr. Campbell is a former member of Governor M. Jodi Rell’s Task Force on Teen Safe Driving which helped strengthen the state’s graduated driver licensing system. Together with Garry Lapidus, PA-C, MPH, director of Connecticut Children’s Injury Prevention Center and Senior Program Manager Kevin Borrup, JD, MPA, Dr. Campbell is studying the effectiveness of the computer-based virtual driving simulators.

"Using simulators will help teens better understand that unsafe driving is dangerous and the results of Dr. Campbell's simulator study could be helpful when considering ways to improve driver education," Governor Rell said.

DMV Commissioner Robert M. Ward added, "We believe this kind of innovative driver training goes a long way in helping research new methods for teaching teens safe driving habits by seeing through simulation the consequences of good and bad choices behind the wheel." Kevin Borrup oversees the day-to-day operations of the simulator center and said his staff will work closely with Rocky Hill High School and two local driving schools while making the center available for local teens at no cost after school and on weekends.

“With the type of free services that we are offering teen drivers at a fixed location center like this, the Teen Driving Simulator Center is the first of its kind in the nation,” Borrup said. Borrup said that annually nearly 6,000 teens are killed and more than 300,000 are injured in motor vehicle crashes. He added that Connecticut statistics show that teenagers represent 6 percent of all drivers, but are involved in 14 percent of all fatal crashes and they are twice as likely as older drivers to be involved in fatal crashes.

The Allstate Foundation is committed to reducing those statistics according to Corporate Relations Manager Tracey King.

“One of The Allstate Foundation’s key funding areas is to make smart driving socially acceptable to teens by changing the way teens think and act in a car as a driver or passenger,” King said. “By creating and expanding Connecticut Children’s simulation program, we will reach an even larger number of teens through a unique and innovative training program and evaluate the overall effectiveness of simulator-based training.” The Teen Driving Simulator Center is designed to introduce teens to a new way to practice and acquire experience behind the wheel, using a safe virtual environment. Each simulator features a steering wheel, gas and brake pedals, and three wide screen monitors to give a realistic driving experience. Teens who visit the center can try two different driving simulator programs; One Simple Decision and StreetReadyTM.

Connecticut Children’s Teen Driving Simulator Center is free and available for all teens who have obtained their learner’s permit. For more information, please visit www.connecticutchildrens.org/drivingsimcenter