Driving simulator helps motorists tackle icy roads

The Miami Valley has seen its fair share of ice and snow this winter, and those conditions can be downright deadly in the midst of a storm.

A local hospital is using technology to teach drivers how to safely navigate icy roads in hopes of preventing tragedy.

While a hospital is not the first place you’d think would teach a class about how to drive on ice, that’s exactly what Miami Valley Hospital is doing.

Whether it’s changing the radio station or sending a text, it takes one distracted moment to lose control of your vehicle and crash on dry roads. Add a sheet of ice and no distraction is needed to send you spinning helplessly out of control.

Last winter, the Ohio Department of Transportation reported 736 serious injuries and 101 fatalities resulting from adverse weather conditions.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol says that while driving on ice can be nearly impossible, it’s generally not the key to why an accident occurred.

The most common cause is something avoidable.

“Speed One hundred percent,” said Ohio State High Patrol Sgt. Tyler Kramer. “If the speed limit is 70 mph on the highway, you can’t travel 65, 70 mph safely in that weather.”

Simply driving slow on ice can reduce the chances of a crash. Learning how to drive on ice will keep you even safer.

The Miami Valley Hospital Injury Prevention Center has turned to technology to keep people out of their hospital. And the best way to understand how to drive on ice is to actually do it.

“The simulator makes it to where you can get out, you can practice, you can drive,” said David Garcia, Miami Valley Hospital Injury Prevention Center. “If you hit something, you wreck. You can reset it. It’s not costing you a dime.”

Their state-of-the-art driving simulator gives inexperienced and experienced drivers the ability to safely see how they should react on ice.

“But in this weather you never want to completely drive next to somebody and just hover there,” said Kramer. “You see cars right next to a car or right next to a semi. You are going to want to slow down and get that space, not only in front of somebody or behind somebody, but certainly next to somebody.”

While these driving tips and the simulator are meant to better prepare you for driving in icy conditions, they very best advice the OSHP has to offer is “just stay home.”

The simulator is a great tool, but nothing can prepare you to drive on icy roads like real-world experience.

With snow expected to arrive this weekend, following Kramer’s tips could prevent you from getting in an accident.