Boardman High School students participate in distracted driving simulations
In Mahoning County, Boardman Township has the highest number of teenagers involved in vehicular accidents.
Kendal Daltorio teaches health classes at Boardman High School.
She wanted to help by teaching her students safe driving techniques before they get their licenses.
The Safe Mobility Project
Daltorio contacted Akron Children’s Hospital to bring The Safe Mobility Project, a texting and driving simulation education, to her class.
The Safe Mobility Project brought a go-kart and virtual reality simulators for students to learn what it feels like to be distracted and try to operate a vehicle.
“[The Mobility Project is] not just about texting and driving, it’s everything; from driving under the influence to the simple laws they need to understand about not touching their phones and wearing their seat belts,” said Daltorio. “They even got to do the simulator with the goggles in the classroom following with a straight line and that simulates falling asleep. They’re trying to touch on everything, which I thought was great, and this is just really a good supplement for our curriculum to do this.”
During class, all students got to drive in a go-kart with a partner around a course set up in the BHS parking lot.
Timofei Vinogradov was behind the wheel and tasked with typing a message on his phone while driving.
“It was quite difficult because my focus was on the phone mostly instead of on the road. There’s a big chance you can get in a car accident that way,” said Vinogradov.
Jayden Watkins’s passenger told Vinogradov what to type on the phone and was along for the ride.
Watkins is still two years from getting his driver’s license but said he will take his time to practice a lot before getting on the road.
“It was scary as the passenger, he was shaky and I just wanted to say, ‘Get off your phone,’” said Watkins. “I learned the way you feel impacts how you drive. Sometimes emotion gets the best of you. I’m not a good multitasker, so I’m going to put my phone in the console when I drive.”
“And if someone has to call me, I’ll ask my passenger to answer it,” said Vinogradov.
The Safe Mobility Project is a collaboration between the Goodyear Foundation and Akron Children’s Hospital.
They provide families and new drivers with safety tips to prevent vehicle crashes. Learn more about The Safe Mobility Project online.
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