Westmeath County Council will host the Road Safety Authority interactive shuttle and roll-over simulator in the car park at the Regional Sports Centre, Athlone on Wednesday February 19 from 10am-4pm.
The road safety interactive shuttle plays an integral role in increasing and developing road safety awareness at local and national level. This will be achieved through an interactive shuttle which has been fitted out and designed to the highest standard to allow for a fully interactive, educational road safety experience.
There is a driving simulator enclosed in a specially designed pod as well as a motorbike simulator, two bicycle simulators, and brake reaction timer.
There are also computers equipped with the driver theory test, questionnaires, interactive games, RSA website, and a plasma screen showing a series of road safety advertisements and road safety programming.
The roll-over simulator is very effective when trying to encourage people to use safety belts.
This is a car fitted to a hydraulic platform which can simulate a 360 degree roll-over which demonstrates how it would feel if you were a driver or passenger involved in a less than desirable incident.
The RSA will show you the effects of being suspended by your seat belt - after this demonstration, people will never travel in a car without a seat belt on. They will also do demonstrations using life size dummies which will show where you can end up when you are not using your seatbelt.
The RSA shuttle provides the general public with an opportunity to engage with the various road safety campaigns and RSA staff. It acts as a visible presence for road safety as it travels throughout the country, bringing the road safety message directly to people in their local communities.
Members of the public including local businesses, local road safety organisations, and students from primary school up are welcome to come along on the day.