Todd Emanuel delivered a powerful message to Cotter students,  especially in the context of the recent tragedies involving drivers in Winona and La Crosse.

      Emanuel is a nurse in the trauma center at St Mary’s hospital in Rochester, and is also the Injury Prevention and Child Passenger Safety Coordinator at Mayo Clinic.  He has extensive experience in the  emergency room and treating trauma patients at accident sites as a member of the  Mayo One helicopter team.

      Speaking to students during their 25 minute Connect and Serve period on Wednesday, January 8, he presented a PowerPoint which outlined the dangers of distracted driving, focusing on texting or cell phone use behind the wheel. The second session, on Thursday, January 9, dealt with substance abuse and driving while intoxicated.

      Cotter counselor Sue O’Brien arranged to have Mr. Emanuel speak to the students after responding to an offer from the Mayo clinic.  “I liked that he spoke from experience and wasn’t too preachy, he presented the information in a straightforward manner and had an important message for the students,” said Mrs. O’Brien following Mr. Emanuel’s presentation.

Mr. Emanuel also set up a driving simulator in the media center, students had the chance to come down during free periods to test themselves.  The impaired driving simulator has students wear goggles and receive input which mimics the effects of driving with different distractions and different levels of intoxication.

         The simulator presents obstacles to the impaired or distracted driver like communication from passengers, dogs or balls in the road, road signs, interaction with police and even trips to the hospital.

      Students who used the simulator found it enlightening.  “It is a fun way to learn about worst case scenarios without actually living through them,” said senior Robert Rivers.

      “It’s a pretty realistic way to learn what happens,” added Daniel Parlin.

      “The impaired driving was definitely harder than distracted driving,” said John Grattan.

      Mr. Emanuel speaks at about 60 different locations per year, including high schools, colleges, and driver’s education classes and about 1,000 people used the impaired driving simulator in the last year.  He also is an expert on child care seat safety.

      Emanuel noted that compared with other states Minnesota has a good record of seat belt use and avoiding driving under the influence, but still has a long way to go.