Distracted Driving Simulator: High School Students Learn Dangers Of Texting And Driving

Students at The Harker School learned the dangers of texting and driving, as the Arrive Alive Tour brought their distracted driving simulator to campus. As students get ready for holiday break, these are crucial times to keep everyone safe.

Distracted driving simulator - Harker School
Photo Source: Harker Aquila

Distracted Driving Simulator

For the simulation, the Arrive Alive Tour brought in a full-size Jeep Patriot. The students and faculty were able to experience the dangers of distracted driving, but in a controlled environment. They would drive on courses, which would simulate city streets or a highway or a mountainside road. They would then be asked to send a text message while trying to stay in control of the vehicle on the road. It was not as easy as it looked.

The Results

After putting on the virtual reality goggles, many students were surprised at how difficult it was to drive. Emma Li was one of those students. She said, “When you’re driving and texting, you kind of don’t realize what was going on. You think you were driving perfectly, you don’t need to look at the road, and then when you look at the replay, you’re swerving around and that’s dangerous.”

Helping Spread Awareness

The Arrive Alive Tour is trying to help spread awareness on the dangers of distracted driving. During these stops, the tour has two road crew facilitators helping out at each event. Jeffrey Bateman, who has worked with Arrive Alive Tour for six months, helped supervise the event at The Harker School. He said, “A felony stays on your record. That stuff is life-altering. Our goal is to change one person’s life in some way, each event. I see people thinking about it; I see it changing people’s lives.”