As We See It

  • Print
  • Small FontsDefault FontsLarge Fonts

[The Backstory]

Texting and driving simulator (hopefully) scares kids straight

Image

Photo: Leila Navidi

Green Valley High School | May 23, 2012 | 12:22 p.m.

I often learn alarming facts while on assignment. Scary Fact 1: Drivers traveling at 55 mph will go the length of a football field during the time it takes to send a five-second text message.

I have to admit this: I’m slightly frightened of teen drivers. It’s not often that I hear this while photographing people: “I only hit one kid with my car. Not too bad!” These kinds of phrases were coming out of kids’ mouths last week while they used a texting and driving simulator during driver’s ed class at Green Valley High School. Students were asked to text while they simulated driving, trying to react to virtual obstacles along the way, like people and pets.

Scary Fact 2: Drivers who text while they operate a car are 23 times more likely to be in a crash or near-crash than nondistracted drivers.

Scary Fact 3: A person’s driving ability while texting is similar to that of a drunken driver.

I hope these kids were scared straight. I definitely was.

Print This

Discussion:

In an effort to increase the dialogue on our stories, we will be requiring Facebook accounts to leave comments on lasvegasweekly.com stories. We believe that Weekly readers are likely to have Facebook accounts already and more apt to comment on this site with that account rather than have to create an account with us. If, however, you do not have a Facebook account, click here to sign up for one. If you have questions, comments or concerns about this new commenting policy, please let us know.

For any other questions related to commenting on Weekly stories, please read our full policy.

Facebook Activity