San Angelo deputies receive high-tech training

Tom Green County sheriff’s deputies are getting high-tech driving training this week without even getting into a car.

The Association of Texas Counties came to San Angelo this week with their state-of-the-art driving simulator to show Tom Green County’s best drivers in some dangerous traffic situations, but without the possible involvement of tow trucks, stoplights or hospitals.

“This is mainly for county legislators and county drivers to help them hone their driving skills,” said TAC Driving Simulator consultant Don Courtney. “Normal everyday driving, as well as light driving at high speed.”

Another of TAC’s primary training goals is to reduce the county’s costs by replicating real-life driving conditions MPs may encounter on the road.

The setup itself, which costs just under a quarter of a million dollars, nearly half encloses the “driver” with three large screens, and will rumble, shake, and slide to match any chaos going on in the simulation, which could include dangerous weather, clueless cyclists, kids roaming crossroads, and even action movies shooting at the screen.

Launched in 2000, the simulator has traveled to more than three-quarters of Texas’ counties and driven over 1,000,000 miles for free.

For more information about the driving simulator and other services TAC provides to counties, please visit their website.