<< Back 6/26/02 SCC’s new driver training facility completed in Macon County SMN Just a short distance from SCC’s Public Safety Training Center, a new driver training facility has been completed. The four-acre asphalt facility allows the college to provide medium-duty driver training as required for such programs as basic law enforcement training and National Park Service law enforcement ranger training. It also will allow for fire, rescue and Emergeny Medical Services training as well as in-service training of local and regional police departments and sheriff departments, as well as other agencies. In North Carolina, the new facility is the only one of its kind west of McDowell County. Construction was overseen by W. K. Dickson engineers and constructed through a cooperative effort by Rhodes Brothers Construction and Penland Contracting. “The contractors (Rhodes and Penland) worked with us as a team and came up with a number of excellent improvements to the project,” said Dwight Wiggins, SCC’s vice president of extension education. “We could discuss with them the different elements required in our training, and they would offer suggestions and ideas to meet these requirements. Thanks to the ingenuity of Rhodes Brothers, we were able to add a road which will make the pursuit training more realistic.” The entire area was designed with safety in mind to prevent potential accidents if a student lost control of a vehicle. An area between the pavement and the raised berm, which surrounds the majority of the paved range, will prevent any vehicle that might leave the pavement from going over the embankment. In all, the training requirements of the Law Enforcement Driver Training program includes five different fixed courses, in addition to pursuit driving, four of which can be set up simultaneously utilizing traffic cones. The training will include emergency driving skills and defensive driving. SCC also has developed a new class entitled “Personal Emergency Response Vehicle Operations” designed to assist emergency responders as they refine and improve needed driving skills when responding to a call in their personal vehicles. The range also will be ideal for using the area’s only skidcar in teaching skid control techniques. “It’s not easy to find an area this size without obstacles, such as utility poles, that is adequate to ensure safety with the skidcar,” said Susan McCaskill, director of the Public Safety Training Center. Another major advantage of the new facility is its proximity to the Public Safety Training Center. For the last 10 years, the driver training had been conducted at a privately-owned airstrip in Swain County. “To have the ability to run the majority of the courses simultaneously is extremely beneficial for our students,” said Wiggins. “Additionally, this new facility will constitute a significant savings to the college. The expense of renting the airstrip along with factoring in the time and travel involved in getting there has been tremendous.” In the future, SCC officials hope to contract with private businesses to conduct training exercises on the driving facility. Wiggins said the college also will pursue future funding for a construction project that will allow the facility to accommodate vehicles such as fire trucks, ambulances and tractor trailers. For more information about the Public Safety Training Center and its new driver training facility, call 828.369.0591.