ATLANTA — We're solving a mystery involving the Georgia Department of Public Safety and Motor Carrier Compliance's latest acquisition. A few weeks ago, video of a new unmarked semi truck started circulating online, leaving some drivers wondering if it would be another tool used to pull them over.
Though it may look and sound like a police car, Sgt. Chase Woodie said the driver inside won't be issuing people tickets.
"If he did see an emergency situation, he could stop and have another officer do it," Woodie said. "It is an authorized, emergency vehicle, but its main purpose is not to pull over trucks or cars on the road."
Woodie said its main purpose is to educate.
"This is the only one in Georgia," Woodie said, "We're the only agency in Georgia that has something like this."
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GSP debuts new semi | Photos
The outside of the truck will eventually be decked in the Department of Public Safety logo, but on the inside, it looks like an arcade. It includes six simulators that show different scenarios truck drivers experience.
During 11Alive's Tresia Bowles' trial, she accidentally ran over a pedestrian. Sgt. Eric Burns explained she could have racked up a vehicular homicide charge had this scenario been real.
"Our aim is to actually go to the schools around Georgia and get the teens to come in and try out the simulators," Burns said. "Our goal is to teach them good, driving behaviors before they learn bad ones."
The simulator allows drivers to see how their actions behind the wheel of a car and when walking as a pedestrian can impact drivers. It puts drivers through different scenarios to throw them off, such as being cut off, bad weather, following too closely, and distracted driving.
"We also put them, actually, in an 18-wheeler," Burns said. "And we make the simulator do some annoying things."
Woodie said taxpayers are not footing the bill; they received it through a grant to help educate drivers.
"Our goal is to go to every single school and put the teens in here -- in the simulators -- and let them drive them before they get out there on the highway and start driving," Burns said.
Tuesday, the semi-truck is rolling down I-75 to Valdosta State to educate the college students.