Polishing up their safety skills behind the wheel

Polishing up their safety skills behind the wheel Main Photo

11 Oct 2022


Seguin, TX, USA / Seguin Today

Cindy Aguirre

Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office participates in simulator safety training

(Seguin) — When it comes to the safety of law enforcement officials, it’s not only the risks of guns on the streets, but also several other roadway hazards that they face each day.

Thanks to The Texas Association of Counties (TAC), some of these real-world dangers were brought to life at the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office thanks to TAC’s high-tech driving simulator trailer.

It’s a simulation unit that travels around the state preparing law enforcement officers and other county employees for the unexpected.

Simulator prompt:

“Alright, go ahead and start if up! Dispatch 108, we have a report that the vehicle was stolen, and the driver was wanted for armed robbery. 10-4 — 10-80 (chase in progress), we are north bound on Eden Street (sirens)”

Taking the wheel, during the simulation demonstration put on for Seguin Radio KWED and the Seguin Daily News, was Lt. Javier Luna of the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office. Luna was being walked through the training by Don Courtney, TAC’s driving instructor and driving simulator consultant.

As a driving consultant, Courtney says it’s his job to help reduce those potential hazards that officers face every time they find themselves behind the wheel at work.

He says studies have shown that driver-training programs effectively reduce several risks.

“And that is the big thing we bring it out for is the safety of the officers, safety of the public and to hold tax dollars down because if you think about it, if they wreck a vehicle, if they get hurt, then that’s more of a strain on the public as well as on themselves when it comes to that,” said Courtney.

Despite years of training, Lt. Luna there’s always a reason to sharpen your driving skills.

He says when you add the adrenaline of a high-speed chase on top of blaring sirens — it’s takes plenty of focus to maintain that tunnel vision to get the job done.

“The simulator is very realistic. You really do have to move your head side to side to see the objects that you are supposed to be looking for. The gas pedal, brakes everything works very similar to normal operations on a regular vehicle. As we discussed earlier, if you are going to make mistake, this is where you want to make it. You want to see where the driver may have some bad habits that we can correct now before they are there on the street and then possibly get into any type of accident,” said Luna.

Since its launch in 2000, more than 25,000 drivers in over three-quarters of the state’s counties have used the simulator to enhance their ability to make lifesaving, split-second decisions in often dangerous driving conditions.

Grateful for their partnership with TAC is Captain John Koch, of the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office.

He says even the safest driver can fall into bad habits, so this reinforcement of good driving habits is key to keeping everyone safe.

“The simulator is an important part of training due to the fact how many miles our deputies drive, what kind of roads they drive on, what kind of weather they drive in and especially because of other people on the road. So, they get in here. They get tips. They are given certain scenarios up on a screen. Some of them might be just regular driving, some of them are scenarios of pursuit mode so it’s good training for them to have. Even the best driver needs to go through this every now and then to wake them up to see what happens in certain situations,” said Koch.

The simulated training exercise last week was split into both classroom instruction and time in the actual simulator.

It was set up for anyone at the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office who drove a county owned vehicle.

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

For more details about the driving simulator and other services that TAC provides to counties is available by visiting county.org.

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