Local high school fulfills need to upgrade teen drivers’ safety education
Due to recent grant funding from the community, students at Lenape Regional High School District will learn to drive on a virtual screen before taking to the road.
Two virtual driver-training simulators will be installed in Shawnee High School in honor of senior Shawnee student Ryan Fitzpatrick who died in a car accident in April at the age of 18.
Ryan was a defensive tackle on Shawnee High School’s football team and was recruited to play football at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown in the fall.
Each of the simulators cost $10,600 and were funded by donations from both the Ryan Fitzpatrick Memorial Fund and the New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company.
Superintendent of schools Emily Capella was both thankful for the gift of the simulators and saddened by the loss of a student.
“This came about as a result of the unfortunate and untimely death of Ryan in late April of last school year,” she said.
The Virtual Driver Interactive Inc. brand simulators will be used in the driver education classrooms at Shawnee High School. All district students are required to take drivers education classes in their sophomore year as part of the health curriculum.
“It’s hard to be happy about a donation that comes out of a death but we are pleased to be targeting the funding to help prevent the same type of accident,” Capella said.
Currently, Capella said the district is looking at ways to fund simulators through grants and donations in the other high schools in the district, as well.
Virtual Driver Interactive, Inc. began offering the driving simulators in 2005 to show students how to react to dangerous situations. The simulators include a three panel video screen, a seat, seat belt, steering wheel and other standard car functions that students sit in and control like a vehicle.
CEO and president of Virtual Driver Interactive Inc. Bob Davis said the simulators teach students aspects of driving, such as the basic operations of a car, safe following distances, seat belt safety, different driving conditions and situations and encourage students to build repetitious, good habits while giving real-time assessments and feedback.
Driving conditions in the program include but are not limited to, day, dusk, nighttime, rain, thunderstorms, fog and snow.
Davis urges students to practice in a car after completing the virtual road tests in order to get real world experience.
“It prepares students to handle dangerous situations without putting them in danger. The real-learning happens unfortunately when a student driver experiences a problem that leads to a change in behavior,” Davis said.
The Fitzpatrick family needed $21,200 to purchase the two simulators for Shawnee High School. Raising enough funds to purchase one simulator, the family’s insurer, New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company, provided funding to cover the cost of the second simulator.
New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company spokesman Patrick Breslin said the company was inspired to take part in the fundraiser as an approach to improving new drivers’ skills and highway safety.
“We feel this was an extremely worthwhile and appropriate way to make a donation, not just in memory of a policy holder, but a constructive way to prevent or reduce the severity of accidents involving young people in the future,” Breslin said.
Currently, the Fitzpatricks are continuing their efforts to raise funding to purchase more simulators for the other high schools in the Lenape Regional High School District. Ryan’s parents Patricia and Dan Fitzpatrick, of Medford, began fundraising within days of the accident.
“It’s extremely painful, and we never want this to happen to anyone else. My wife and I felt that if we pursue this idea, and it just makes a difference with one other teen driver, the results would be priceless,” he said.
Fitpatrick thanked his friends, family, the community and the insurance company for their support.
Two virtual driver-training simulators will be installed in Shawnee High School in honor of senior Shawnee student Ryan Fitzpatrick who died in a car accident in April at the age of 18.
Ryan was a defensive tackle on Shawnee High School’s football team and was recruited to play football at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown in the fall.
Each of the simulators cost $10,600 and were funded by donations from both the Ryan Fitzpatrick Memorial Fund and the New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company.
Superintendent of schools Emily Capella was both thankful for the gift of the simulators and saddened by the loss of a student.
“This came about as a result of the unfortunate and untimely death of Ryan in late April of last school year,” she said.
The Virtual Driver Interactive Inc. brand simulators will be used in the driver education classrooms at Shawnee High School. All district students are required to take drivers education classes in their sophomore year as part of the health curriculum.
“It’s hard to be happy about a donation that comes out of a death but we are pleased to be targeting the funding to help prevent the same type of accident,” Capella said.
Currently, Capella said the district is looking at ways to fund simulators through grants and donations in the other high schools in the district, as well.
Virtual Driver Interactive, Inc. began offering the driving simulators in 2005 to show students how to react to dangerous situations. The simulators include a three panel video screen, a seat, seat belt, steering wheel and other standard car functions that students sit in and control like a vehicle.
CEO and president of Virtual Driver Interactive Inc. Bob Davis said the simulators teach students aspects of driving, such as the basic operations of a car, safe following distances, seat belt safety, different driving conditions and situations and encourage students to build repetitious, good habits while giving real-time assessments and feedback.
Driving conditions in the program include but are not limited to, day, dusk, nighttime, rain, thunderstorms, fog and snow.
Davis urges students to practice in a car after completing the virtual road tests in order to get real world experience.
“It prepares students to handle dangerous situations without putting them in danger. The real-learning happens unfortunately when a student driver experiences a problem that leads to a change in behavior,” Davis said.
The Fitzpatrick family needed $21,200 to purchase the two simulators for Shawnee High School. Raising enough funds to purchase one simulator, the family’s insurer, New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company, provided funding to cover the cost of the second simulator.
New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company spokesman Patrick Breslin said the company was inspired to take part in the fundraiser as an approach to improving new drivers’ skills and highway safety.
“We feel this was an extremely worthwhile and appropriate way to make a donation, not just in memory of a policy holder, but a constructive way to prevent or reduce the severity of accidents involving young people in the future,” Breslin said.
Currently, the Fitzpatricks are continuing their efforts to raise funding to purchase more simulators for the other high schools in the Lenape Regional High School District. Ryan’s parents Patricia and Dan Fitzpatrick, of Medford, began fundraising within days of the accident.
“It’s extremely painful, and we never want this to happen to anyone else. My wife and I felt that if we pursue this idea, and it just makes a difference with one other teen driver, the results would be priceless,” he said.
Fitpatrick thanked his friends, family, the community and the insurance company for their support.
