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Boardman High School students learn dangers of texting while driving
BOARDMAN
High-school students were asked to text and drive Monday — on a virtual road.
Students got behind the wheel of a simulator-equipped car in one of the high school’s hallways.
The simulator set up driving scenarios, responded to students’ actions and gave them a report at the end about how often they sped, how many traffic infractions they had, how many accidents they caused and how many times they veered off course.
And while they used the simulator, students also used their phones.
The program, which came to only two schools in Ohio, was sponsored by State Farm and run by PEER Awareness, a Michigan-based organization. Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC loaned a car for the day.
“We’re all about trying to save kids’ lives, just by raising awareness about the dangers of distracted driving,” said Ambrosia Heintz of PEER Awareness. The simulator “keeps track and shows you how dangerous it really is. ... The best thing they can do is put their phone away.”
More than nine people are killed and more than 1,100 people are injured each day in the U.S. in accidents involving distracted drivers, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data about motor-vehicle safety.
Heintz said she often asks groups of kids what they think is more unsafe — drunken driving or distracted driving, and that most kids say driving drunk.
Distracted driving, however, is more dangerous, she said, since the driver is taking his or her eyes off the road.
“If you’re driving at 70 mph down the highway, the average text takes five seconds to read, and during that five seconds you drive the length of a football field,” she said. “Anything can pop out at you.”
One of the students who got behind the wheel, Nya Beconder, 17, didn’t fare so well — she sped 51 percent of the time, and crashed multiple times.
In real life, Beconder said she has used her phone while driving, and, “I’ve probably gone on the wrong side of the road a couple times.”
She said the simulation changed her perspective on distracted driving.
“It makes you think you shouldn’t be doing it. You should not be texting and driving,” she said.
That is exactly what Principal Jared Cardillo hoped would come out of the event, saying, “Hopefully students will see this and make better decisions when they’re behind the wheel.”
The distracted-driving demonstration was part of State Farm’s “Celebrate My Drive” event, an anti-distracted driving campaign in which State Farm will be awarding grants for up to $100,000 to schools.
Go to www.celebratemydrive.com starting Wednesday to help Boardman High School win one.