Skidding for safety at Delaware Valley

WESTFALL — Delaware Valley High School’s driver education program is on the cutting edge due to a new mechanism added to one of its student driver cars and an outpouring of support from the community. A newly acquired device called a “Skid Monster” has instructor-controlled casters instead of rear wheels and allows students to experience what it is like to enter and get out of a skid. Driver education teacher Joe Sain explained that this useful tool will allow driver education instructors at the school to demonstrate to students the three-pronged maneuver of how to avoid an object, counter-steer, and get back into the correct lane. “It’s not just about turning the wheel … there is a visual and mental component also,” Sain said in a presentation for the local sponsors of Skid Monster. The Pike County Child Death Review Team, headed by Pike Coroner Kevin Stroyan, facilitated the purchase. Originally created in 2000, the organization joined a national coalition in analyzing child deaths and making recommendations on how to prevent them. “This organization was created so we can make things like this happen, and it is because folks in the community got behind it,” Stroyan said, thanking those on hand. About two-thirds of the $12,000 price tag for the device and the program, which also allows parents to chart their child’s progress, was defrayed by the school district, with the balance coming from other community organizations. Representatives of these organizations were provided the opportunity to test out the car on Wednesday, the back seat of which was compared to a ride at Six Flags amusement park. Pike County Commissioner Karl Wagner said he thinks the device will help avoid fatal teen accidents since many occur because of spinouts. “If by the apparatus we save one young person’s life, we’ve all done our jobs,” Stroyan said.