TINY TOWNE
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day during the summer (check website for a possible change in hours once school resumes)
Cost: $5 for one round on the tiny track. $20 for 20 minutes on the large track. The more time spent on the large track, the higher the price. Children who drive on the large track are also required to get a Driver's ID, which costs $20 for an annual pass.
Where: 2055 Beaver Ruin Road, Norcross.
Amenities: Party rooms bearing the names "Safety Suite," "Caution Corner" and "Brake Room." Plus a restaurant and an arcade ("Carcade" ) filled with car-themed games.
At Tiny Towne, you’ll see young drivers cruising under a tunnel, swerving around flower-filled medians — and coming to a complete stop at intersections.
This is not your typical racetrack.
It’s an educational miniature city with traffic signs where youngsters must follow the rules of the road or risk getting a ticket — or even losing their driving privileges. It’s an indoor amusement park in Norcross with a serious, real-world approach to teaching children good driving practices.
Tiny Towne, which opened this month, can host field trips and birthday celebrations. A rideable train loops around, and there’s a restaurant and an arcade filled with car-themed games.
While youngsters between the ages of 3 and 9 can hop on little brightly colored cars and drive around a tiny track, older children who are at least 57 inches tall must complete a series of driving tests before they can get behind the wheel of an electric smart car (modified golf cart) on a larger track.
Ten-year-old William Ezell started with a simulation driving test that he said “took forever.” Then he needed to pass “Traffic 101.” It’s no easy-peasy exam. Questions on a touch-screen computer include the shapes, types and meanings of traffic signs and road markings, and customers must answer all 32 questions correctly before they can get a permit to drive at Tiny Towne.
William got 24 correct on his first attempt, 30 right on his second, and nailed every one the third time. William then obtained a personal ID card to start the car and log into a personalized interface. The interface screen displays the speed, time behind the wheel, safety level and any traffic violations. (Employees serving as police officers patrol Tiny Towne and hand out traffic violations).
Cruising at about 5 mph, William went under the tunnel and looped the track, which stretches about 2,000 feet. Although the track is not very long, drivers can spend 20 minutes or more trying the various routes and driving options. He drove around a world filled with guide signs, warning signs and regulatory signs — including one that states, “Click it or Ticket,” and another that boasts, “Fueling your Kids with Awareness.”
One recent morning, Pierre Maalouf, founder of Tiny Towne, pulled out his iPhone, which he calls his “police device.” With a special app, Maalouf pointed his phone toward an electric car to quickly pull up the driver’s information — how many minutes driven, the speed, number of violations. He said he wants children to have fun but also believes it’s never too early to begin learning the rules of the road.
William got a warning for forgetting to use his turn signal. But he didn’t mind.
“This is a good concept,” he said. “I like how you can get a ticket because it makes you want to do the right thing.”
At Tiny Towne, if a child manages to drive for 30 minutes without incurring violations, the allowable speed on the smart car will rise. Conversely, driving privileges will be revoked if 25 violation points are accumulated. The citations add up: parking improperly, 2 points; going through a stop sign, 5 points; not wearing a seat belt, 3 points. But texting while driving — the biggie — is a full 25-point violation.
To reclaim a Tiny Towne driver’s permit, a child would have to stand before a judge. Court sessions will be held at “Tiny Towne Driving Academy” early on Saturdays although Maalouf is still unsure exactly how that would unfold. He said he is in conversations with lawyers and judges who are interested in participating in a Saturday mock court, but in the meantime he has some ideas. For instance, if the violator texted while driving, “I would ask for a research paper on the severity and danger of texting while driving, and I would ask the person to find five videos on the subject,” Maalouf said.
Noor Abi Rached, a 14-year-old who is just one month away from getting a real driver’s permit, visited the track with her mother and a group of friends. “There are some driving parallels here to real life,” she said.
Tiny Towne staffers spoke with Noor about the dangers of texting while driving. And when she got behind the wheel, she left her smartphone with her mom, Anna Abi Rached — who said her daughter is quite serious about motorists behaving responsibly.
“She is the one on me if I want to check a text at a stop light,” Abi Rached said.
