SafeDrive Technologies Harnesses Technology to Help Save Teen Lives With Driver Training

    MONROEVILLE, Pa.--Aug. 17, 2002--Pittsburgh-based SafeDrive Technologies, Inc., today opened its first local driver education and training center, where it employs unique, state-of-the-art technology to better prepare teen drivers and thus, save lives.
    The three-year-old company is revolutionizing driver education with its Safety Threat Awareness and Response Training Technology, or STARTT(TM) -- the first major innovation in driver training since World War II.
    In addition to Internet-supported learning and interactive training, STARTT(TM) boasts an advanced simulator, like flight simulators used to train pilots. After students master road rules and basic skills in computer-based and classroom training, they drive the simulator from an authentic vehicle cockpit that acts and reacts as a real car would. The simulator creates "real life" scenarios: rain- or snow-slicked roads, fog and tire blowouts.
    "Statistics show us that the overwhelming majority of teen automobile accidents are caused by driver error," said Jim Dowdell, SafeDrive founder and chief executive. "Our system is designed to help decrease those errors by exposing kids to threatening situations, like inclement weather or running off the road, in the simulator."
    Dowdell conceived SafeDrive while contemplating the deadly dangers of driving for his own teen son. He says the SafeDrive simulator teaches teens "how to properly respond to situations before encountering them behind the wheel of a real car. Our goal is to give teens real experience to draw from when they're on the road and thus, we hope, reduce the staggering number of teen fatalities and injuries in auto accidents."
    In-car instruction is the final step in SafeDrive's 42-hour STARTT-2-Finish program, which includes 30 classroom hours and 12 hours behind-the-wheel training. Classroom hours are split into nine hours of computer-based training completed at home and 21 hours of interactive instruction at the SafeDrive center. Behind-the-wheel training includes nine hours in the SafeDrive simulator and three hours of in-car instruction.
    In a pilot program, hundreds of Mount Lebanon High School students have learned to drive in the SafeDrive simulator. District officials are pleased with the results. "The biggest difference is that it allows students to have risk-free exposure to risky situations," says George D. Wilson, Mount Lebanon assistant superintendent.
    SafeDrive also is working with schools in Georgia, where it has a facility in Duluth, outside of Atlanta. North Hall High School, in suburban Atlanta, has begun a pilot program this fall, including both the computer-based training and the simulator. After successful completion of the pilot, the SafeDrive program will be implemented in Hall County's six high schools next school year.

    About SafeDrive Technologies, Inc.

    SafeDrive Technologies, Inc., a Pittsburgh-based driver training and education company, employs state-of-the-art technology to better train student drivers and help reduce the staggering number of teen fatalities and injuries in auto accidents. SafeDrive is revolutionizing driver training with the first major innovation since World War II.