Latest local news, weather and high school sports for Tri-State area

QUINCY, IL -- We all know that experience is the best teacher.

That's especially true in driver's education classes.

The textbook that Quincy High School uses to teach its students and students from Quincy Notre Dame contains one chapter about driving in snow, ice, and other bad weather.

This winter has provided plenty of snow and ice for students to practice on. But what about the students who take driver's ed in the fall or summer?

"Obviously we can't give them that experience on the road, but we do have our simulators," said Jerry Ellerman, Quincy High School driver's education teacher.

Those simulators take students through a variety of driving scenarios including sliding in the snow and stopping in bad road conditions.

Then a computer calculates their grade according to how well they reacted at the wheel. Ellerman says in the wintertime, if school's in session, the students drive.

Sophomore Mariah Genenbacher said driving in the snow is harder especially when she's just starting out.

Another student, Wilson Roegge, said he was sliding off the road and had to remember what  Ellerman had taught him.

Ellerman said he prefers students learn to drive in the snow with a teacher in the car rather than by themselves for the first time.

Ellerman also said driver's education teachers discuss driving on gravel and dirt with students too, since those types of roads are common in the Tri-State area and can cause the same slides as snow and sleet.