Story and photo by Robert Johnson
Managing editor

For anyone thinking about buying a motorcycle, but who has never been on a powered two-wheel vehicle, a visit to the Maneuver Support Center Safety office’s motorcycle simulator should be your first stop before you head to a showroom.

The safety office officially opened their new simulator-training center in Bldg. 1000 with the standard ribbon-cutting ceremony, Monday. The facility has 25 driver stations that allow operators to duplicate conditions found on nearly every road in America, but the centerpiece of the trainers is a $200,000 motorcycle simulator that duplicates nearly every aspect of riding.

“This simulator will be used with the basic rider (safety) course,” said Kelly Haworth, a contractor with Cape Fox/Concentric Methods and lead instructor for motorcycle safety instruction. “The system can really duplicate just about anything a rider would see on the road, and it steers just like a real motorcycle.”

“One of the best features about this simulator is that we can conduct the training year-round. It’s not weather dependent — and it’s very forgiving. You can have an accident here and all we have to do is restart the program,” Haworth said.

The simulator is built to resemble a sport bike and has many of the same characteristics of a real motorcycle, as it replicates hard braking and a rapid takeoff with many of the same results.

“You’ll feel the bike nose down when you brake hard,” Haworth explained. The simulator also mimics the feel of acceleration, steering and other features. You can even stall the bike out at a traffic light if you aren’t giving it enough “gas” or are in the wrong gear.

“For someone thinking about buying a motorcycle, but hasn’t been on one, this simulator is a great place to start.  It’s also a great tool for someone who may have not ridden in a while or for the experienced rider that wants to fine tune some of their riding skills,” said Dennis Ryno, MANSCEN safety director.

The other portion of the new training center is the 25 driver stations where operators can simulate driving a vehicle in a variety of settings.

“These simulators are a great tool for a commander to provide remedial training to anyone who might need a little extra instruction behind the wheel,” said Lt. Col. Diane Cummins-Lefler, Training Support Battalion commander. “I could see sending a Soldier or civilian over here for training after they have received a speeding ticket, had an accident or other driving infraction.”

“The simulator reinforces the procedures and etiquette of driving. The simulator forces you to do it right. If you skip steps or fail to proceed in a safe manner, the machine will shut down until you get it right,” Cummins-Lefler said.

With scenarios ranging from heavy city traffic to winding country roads with psycho deer to contend with, the instructors can program the simulator to deal with nearly any situation.

“We have the beer goggles that we can have you wear to get the feel of drunk driving, and we could put someone on here driving at 60 mph while using a cell phone to show them how incredibly dangerous that really is,” Ryno said.

Soldiers returning from deployment are also encouraged to visit the simulation center when they return.

“We hear a lot about the driving habits over there, and those drivers would do well to come here before hitting the road, but there are also a lot of people who don’t drive anything for 15 months, and we encourage them to visit here as well,” Ryno said.

For more information about the driving simulators, contact the MANSCEN safety office at 596.1275.