April 26, 2013 at 5:21 p.m.
RHS students get behind the wheel for distracted driving project
RHS students get behind the wheel for distracted driving project
"Distracted driving is such a pain, and you see it everywhere" said Kevin Kirby, RHS driver education teacher. "I'm on the road a lot, and I see adults drive by with their phone to their ear all the time. Texting is illegal while driving for everyone, but how do our youth communicate? By text."
Kirby said that people who text and drive without an accident don't realize that all it takes is one incident for terrible consequences to occur, potentially ruining someone's life.
"People get into the habit of texting while driving because they do it, and nothing happens, so they do it again, and nothing happens. When something finally does happen, it's too late to say, 'Oops,' or, 'Sorry,'" Kirby said.
Since January, Matt Thompson, public relations and communications manager for Ministry Health Care, has wanted to put together a project to teach area youth about the dangers of driving while distracted. Because April is Distracted Driving Awareness month, Thompson presented the project to Kirby, who thought it was a great idea.
"Kevin really took the project and ran with it. He set up the course and got the Oneida County Sheriff and Rhinelander Police Department involved," said Thompson.
The project consisted of a cone course set up in the parking lot behind RHS. Facilitated and supervised by Kirby, Thompson, student volunteers and school liaison officer Tyler Young, students made their way through the course twice, using the driver's education vehicle.
On one of their attempts through the course, the students would simply be driving. During the other attempt, students texted while they drove and had passengers in the backseat heckling and distracting them. Before starting, students were not told on which run they would be distracted and which would be normal.
The results were measured by recording the time it took to complete the course, as well as the number of cones they knocked over or stop signs they ran.
"We tried to make the simulation as real as possible," said Kirby.
Additional distractions were also used, including rolling a soccer ball in front of the vehicle to mimic a small child wandering into the street.
"We want them to see that the decisions they make while driving can impact lives, their own as well as others'," said Thompson. "We need them to realize how much one text can impact decisions on the road."
In addition to the outdoor driving course, the Wisconsin Bureau of Transportation Safety set up a distracted driving simulation booth in the RHSâcafeteria so students without driver's licenses could also see the effects of distracted driving.
Thompson said by holding the simulation this week, they hoped to instill in students the dangers of distracted driving before prom, graduation and the summer months.
While the program offered a hands-on learning experience about the dangers of distracted driving, it also became an educational tool for the RHS statistics classes.
Students in these classes helped set up the course, and numbered each cone used. During the attempts to navigate the course, the statistics students took notes about which cones were hit and how long each run was. The students will use the data to look for trends, such as to which cones were hit most often, and the differences in both run time and cones hit when distracted and not distracted.
Thompson said the goal is to emphasize there is a time for talking and texting responsibly, and it isn't while driving. "If you absolutely must make a phone call, pull off the road," said Kirby.
Throughout the day, 39 high schoolers were able to take part in the simulation.
"If these kids walk away and at least think before they text and drive, maybe we have saved a life today," said Thompson.
Jim Oxley may be reached at [email protected].
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