High school to see dangers of texting, driving

Poll: 85 percent of Iowans favor stricter texting and driving laws

By MATTHEW REZAB
m.rezab@beeherald.com

Cruising down Highway 30 at 55 mph, the driver hears the familiar beep-beep of an incoming text message. In the five seconds he took picking up the phone and reading the message, his vehicle has traveled more than the length of a football field.

In those crucial five seconds, he didn’t notice the van in front of him slow and stop to make a left turn.

Unfortunately, this scenario plays itself out over and over again on American highways everyday.

In the United States, it happened 341,000 times (935 per day) in 2013, according to the National Safety Council.

On Monday from 8:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Greene County High School students will get a first-hand look at just how dangerous texting and driving can be when UNITE’s Arrive Alive Tour visits the school with its driving simulator.

The event, sponsored by Jefferson Telecom and MacDonald Insurance, aims to educate kids and give them hands-on experience behind the wheel in a safe environment.

The event is for students only, but that doesn’t mean they can’t take the lessons they learn home with them.

“This is a problem everybody has,” Jody Schulte, Jefferson Telecom’s marketing manager said. “Adults can learn from this too and kids can take it home with them.”

Schulte said Jefferson Telecom was originally approached by MacDonald Insurance in an effort to combat texting and driving. Together they found Arrive Alive, a national organization that travels the country raising awareness about the dangers of distracted driving.

“(Arrive Alive) has been a great partner so far,” Schulte said. “They’ll have two people there to teach the kids and run the simulator.”

Stacy Stream, organizer and an agent at MacDonald Insurance, said while it’s good business to lower distracted driving rates, the focus is on saving lives.

“A lot of our agents have kids or other family members that text and drive,” Stream said. “If we can save even one life then we’ve done our job.”

Stream isn’t exaggerating when she says texting and driving is rampant.

A driver is 23 times more likely to crash while texting and 2.8 times more likely while dialing. In 2011, 1.3 million crashes involved cellphones.

Iowa is one of 45 states with laws banning texting and driving, but is one of only five where it is not considered a primary offense. Officers in Iowa must have other cause to pull a driver over before a texting citation can be issued.

A February 2015 poll showed 85 percent of Iowans favor stricter texting and driving laws.

In addition to testing the driving simulator, students will be able to watch their classmates drive from a passenger-eye view. Drivers will also receive mock tickets after the simulation and be asked to sign a pledge to not text and drive.

“It’s just going to be a real good opportunity to get the message across,” Schulte said.

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