SEPTEMBER 9, 2022 | EFCTS
The new Maria Tiberi Foundation driving simulation lab has been installed and is ready for use at Eastland Career Center. To commemorate the installation of the second driving simulation lab of its kind, co-founder of the foundation and sports anchor Dom Tiberi chose to feature Eastland Career Center and the lab during the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts on the local news airing on WBNS 10TV.
Students from Eastland Career Center joined Mr. Tiberi in the simulation lab and took the simulators on a test drive to experience what they are capable of. Tiberi spoke with the students, mainly from the Criminal Justice program, about their experience as well as the dangers of distracted driving.
With training, the students of the Criminal Justice program will not only become better drivers as participants but will also transition into an instructor role when they are asked to teach other ECC students through the modules installed on the simulators. Eventually, students across the entire EFCTS district will have the opportunity to experience the lab and learn about the dangers of distracted driving.
The simulators are designed to not only instruct students about their driving habits but also challenge them in distracted driving scenarios in order to teach them its dangers. The consequences of distracted driving are real but in the simulation lab, students are afforded the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them. As part of the program, students are introduced to those real consequences through simulated emergency healthcare scenes, police interactions, and courtroom hearings.
According to Tiberi, car accidents are the number one cause of death for those ages 8-24 and the number three cause among all ages. On Sept. 17, 2013, Dom lost his 21-year-old daughter, Maria, in a distracted driving accident. Since then, the Tiberis and their 10TV family have been on a mission to teach teens who are about to get their license or just started driving about the dangers of being distracted behind the wheel.
Thank you to the Maria Tiberi Foundation and all of its partners for helping to make the new driving simulation lab at Eastland Career Center a reality. For more information about the Maria Tiberi Foundation, please visit www.10tv.com/marias-message.