Outwardly many Greene County high school students approached Arrive Alive simulations at school Monday as a game, but the startling fact is that in a sample class, in 15 minutes’ time four pedestrians and a dog were killed.
Early in the school day the students watched a 50 minute video about distracted driving. Throughout the day, students each spent 30 seconds driving a simulator in metropolitan, suburban or rural settings. They were asked to enter a text message of at least 10 words on their cell phone while they drove. Each was given a “ticket” at the end of their drive, noting their moving violations – speeding, swerving, crossing the centerline or going off the road, and in some cases, striking pedestrians or other vehicles.
Pictured in the simulator is freshman Jack Bryson. He was “cited” for speeding 10 miles over the limit and swerving across the centerline. He avoided striking a bicyclist and a vehicle, but he struck a dog.
The Arrive Alive simulator was at the school through sponsorship of Jefferson Telecom and MacDonald Insurance. “This simulator is something everyone should do, including adults. We all text and drive, and we shouldn’t,” said Jodi Schulte of Jefferson Telecom.
Students were provided startling statistics: text messaging while driving is the same as driving after drinking four beers; texting makes a driver 23 times more likely to crash; texting is the same as driving blind for five seconds; and perhaps the most startling, a text messaging driver is six times more likely to cause an accident than an intoxicated driver.
