The study is funded by a $16,000 injury prevention grant from the Ohio Division of EMS.
In February, Springboro students, with parental permission, will join the study at the high school.
Shaun Hamilton, manager of the Dayton hospital’s Injury Prevention Center, will oversee the study of 50 to 100 Springboro students, all with a driver’s license for less than a year.
Half of the students will complete a 12-module course on the hospital’s NDX306, a simulator manufactured by California-based Virtual Driver Interactive, one of a handful of companies producing computer simulators for driver education.
The simulator is an open cab featuring a steering wheel, gas pedal, brake and other controls found inside a car. Instead of a windshield, drivers face three large computer screens illustrating virtual driving situations controlled by special software.
At six-month intervals during the next two years, researchers will collect and compare the test group’s driving records with those of students in the control group left to use traditional methods of driver education.
Dr. Akpofure Peter Ekeh, a surgeon at the hospital and medical director of the Injury Prevention Center, is expected to report the results in a trauma journal.
“We may have to find another way,” Hamilton said. “We see so many car crashes.”
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