November 29, 2013 12:00 am  •  Susan Emery Times Correspondent

Valparaiso High School's Emily Whited, 18, and Kyle Brown, 16, monitor a mock roundabout the SADD students set up in a hallway intersection at the school to help teach students how to negotiate the new two-lane roundabout in Valparaiso. The VHS chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions/Drunk Driving was chosen to be one of 50 high schools nationwide to participate in a safe driving activity by Nation SADD and the National Road Safety Foundation.

VALPARAISO | As Valparaiso High School students scurried to their classes on Wednesday, they encountered something many drivers are seeing these days.

At one of the busiest hallway intersections in the school, blue tape was placed on the floor to simulate the traffic flow in a two-lane roundabout. To walk through it successfully, students had to follow the lanes and arrows.

It was all part of an event sponsored by the VHS chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions.

Valparaiso was one of 50 high schools in the nation chosen to participate in a safe driving activity by the National SADD and National Road Safety Foundation, said Sue Hager, adviser for the Valparaiso SADD chapter.

Hager said the students decided to do a roundabout for their safe driving activity.

“With the new roundabout opening in Valpo this week, they decided it would be good to get the students used to how the flow of the roundabout works,” she said.

SADD students Emily Whited, Katareina Vincent and Kyle Brown stood in the center of roundabout to help direct traffic.

Brown said he came up with the idea for roundabout education because three new roundabouts have been constructed in Valparaiso in the last five years.

“Most of us have grasped it, but there are people who haven't,” he said.

As the students made their way through the roundabout, many of them offered feedback on the exercise, both good and bad.

“It was hit or miss. They either loved it or they didn't,” Vincent said.

The exercise also served as a recruiting tool for the chapter, as some of the students who liked the demonstration also expressed interest in becoming a member of SADD.

Both Whited and Brown have driven through roundabouts, and while they haven't had any problems, they have seen other drivers who've had trouble.

They believe with the proper education, most drivers will be able to improve their skills with roundabouts.

“I think they're a good idea because they're working,” Brown said.