MEDINA — Young drivers who receive their first traffic citation may have the option to take a driving simulation class and have the ticket voided.

Teenagers who are first-time offenders may be issued a ticket and a verbal option to participate in the Medina County Juvenile Traffic Program, Montville Township police Sgt. Terry Grice said. Minor offenses such as speeding and making incomplete stops at stop signs qualify.

If the alleged offender agrees, a letter is sent about a month later informing parents how to sign their children up for the $25 class, Grice said.

A Medina High School student uses a driving simulator Wednesday in health class. (Audrey McCrone / Gazette)

Besides Montville Township, police in Brunswick, Lodi, Seville, Westfield Center, Wadsworth, and Medina and Spencer townships are “participating or will be participating” in the traffic program, Grice said.

The driving simulation class meets for three hours Saturdays at Medina High School, Grice said. It is being taught by various officers from the participating departments, he said.

Medina officer Dan Getto, who works within Medina High School, will teach the next class.

“It’ll be a blast,” Getto said. “It’ll be good times.”

The kids practice on one of four simulators, hear lectures that stress the value of driving safely and see a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation about car accidents. They also will receive “hands-on training” in the closed high school parking lot to practice maneuvering, steering, braking and stopping under different weather and road conditions, Grice said.

At the end of a day, participants “give their honest opinions on the class, from anything to improve upon to anything they might think we should get rid of,” Montville officer Dave Pinkas said. “Overall, they find it beneficial for everyday driving. The response has been very positive.”

Since only four people can attend the class each Saturday, it is already full through December, Grice said.

“Once the juvenile has completed the program, the ticket is voided and does not go on their driving history,” he said.

Grice said this keeps car insurance premiums from rising as they typically do for driving infractions.

“Plus, the kids get that educational experience of driving,” he said.

The driving simulators also are used in Medina High School’s health classes in a program taught by Ray Sanderbeck, who lost his 15-year-old daughter, Michelle, in a fatal car crash in March 2006. Since then, he began Michelle’s Leading Star Foundation to honor her memory and change the law.

The classroom driving simulators, made by Simulator Systems International, cost about $10,000 each, Sanderbeck said.

Michelle’s Leading Star Foundation purchased three of the driving simulators with funding from various sources, and Montville Township police contributed one of them through funding gained from an approximately $6,000 grant from the state Office of Criminal Justice Services and a $4,000 contribution from the Medina County Juvenile Court, Grice said.

Juvenile Court Judge John J. Lohn said the grant was part of the court’s local diversion programming.

“It very effectively diverts kids from the juvenile system and makes them aware of serious responsibilities while driving,” Lohn said.

Sanderbeck’s two-week 21st Century Simulated Driving Program is optional for Medina High School students to take and was piloted in the school during the summer of 2008.

It incorporates a “defensive driving course in addition to the simulator,” Sanderbeck said. The class has an educational defensive driving course software program called RoadWise that reinforces the simulated part, he said.

Sanderbeck and his wife, Debbie, worked to create the program, which includes a lesson plan and the simulator, which has real car parts to teach students the basics of driving and safe decision-making before they can even get a permit.

Sanderbeck said the essence of the class is to agree to obey the speed limits, not to drink and drive, to buckle up, to be responsible and for students to keep their minds on the road.

Contact Audrey McCrone at (330) 721-4063 or amccrone@ohio.net.