Distracted Driving Awareness Month: Dangers Shown With Virtual Reality Driving Simulator

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month. To help spread that message, the Arrive Alive Tour is bringing their message across the country. We all know how dangerous it is to text and drive. The Arrive Alive Tour helps raise the awareness to those dangers, but in a controlled environment. That is key since more than 40,000 people were killed in car accidents in 2017.

Distracted Driving Simulator

With the Arrive Alive Tour, they have road crews that travel the East and West Coast with their virtual reality simulator. This gives participants the chance to experience the dangers of distracted driving hands-on. With the help of virtual reality goggles and Bluetooth sensors, a Jeep Patriot is turned into the simulator. The facilitators help the participants, as they give them commands of sending a text message.

WTSP stopped by a recent event and spoke with Safety Ambassador Max Vanderwater, who said, “We’re having fun out here, we’re laughing and smiling.” That is one of the keys, as the simulator covers such a serious topic, but we want participants to enjoy themselves at the same time.

With that being said, it is not all fun and games. Once the distracted driving simulator is done, the participants get a reality check. “We hand you a citation saying DUIs are running $12,000-$25,000 right now, and texting and driving is the number one killer of people your age,” Vandewater said. “It kind of has this aha moment, after you’ve been smiling for a while that says, shoot I think I learned something today.”

Awesome Video

WTSP was able to participate in the Arrive Alive Tour. A recent stop was at Power Design Inc., in St. Petersburg, so one of their reporters stopped by to try things out. This is an awesome video, so props to them! Check it out right here: