MORGANTON, N.C. — NCDOT recently got its hands on a state-of-the-art driving simulator to give employees a safer option to get a feel for plowing snow this winter.

Mark Scott, a safety consultant for NCDOT, is traveling across the state training drivers on the agency’s new simulator.

“I’ve used these on the military side when I was in the Marine Corps,” Scott said. “And this is the most modern one I’ve been in.”

Scott says the simulation can throw “thousands” of real-life scenarios at drivers, such as plowing heavy snow and driving on icy roads.

“This is very versatile,” Scott said. “We’ve already run 300 folks through this in the last 30 days, and they say it’s realistic to the area they’re in, and they wish we would’ve had this several years ago.”

Scott says it’s also an important tool in training new employees and evaluating their driving skills without the risk.

“If we have an accident, we can just go back and look and see what happened,” Scott said. “And then we can view potential issues that the driver may have, and then we can instruct on ‘hey if you do that or do this—lets improve on that.’”

Scott says he’s spent at least 400 hours with the simulation so far. But, his goal is to make sure each NCDOT driver gets at least two hours of practice before Mother Nature brings several inches of snow to North Carolina.

“And that’s the minimum we’re asking for,” Scott said. “However, if we have space, we’ll bring the drivers back through it again.”

A spokesperson for NCDOT says the simulator will go to all 14 divisions across the state, including Sylva and Charlotte.