Letters to the Editor for Tuesday, April 23

Driver education program should be used elsewhere

As the president of the LADS Foundation (Look Ahead Driving Simulator) I’m reaching out to the public by asking for moral and spiritual support. I’m doing this because Nevada high schools have dropped driver education. Washoe County School District is the exception. However, they only offer training in the classroom. Western Nevada College offers the training in the classroom along with time on the driving simulator. This tool was developed by Systems Technology Inc., located in Hawthorne, Calif. They also developed the DUI simulator. Currently throughout the state we have four DUI simulators available for the Nevada Highway Patrol and other law enforcement organizations to curb DUI problems.

Ideally, the Western Nevada College Driver Education Program would be duplicated at Truckee Meadows Community College, Great Basin College at Elko and Southern Nevada College at Pahrump and Las Vegas. This training could be treated as competitive to measure the effectiveness of the training throughout the state. This competitive concept should match that same concept we see in sports.

My challenge is to bring them in a room together as a team advancing simulator technology. A neurologist has the ability as a sleep disorder specialist to examine an individual’s eye movement. Wade Allen is the Systems Technology Institute CEO and a professional accomplice working with a neurologist to develop the DUI simulator. Now they want to work together to integrate the eye movement technology with systems technology simulators, bringing in an added tool. Both are creators and board members of the LADS Foundation.

Ron Kendall

President of the LADS Foundation