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Chesterfield students learn dangers of distracted driving

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Driving while distracted

Teenagers are tested behind the wheel while using a cell phone, texting, eating and dealing with unruly passengers. The training program by Allstate shows how activities can distract motorists and...

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Chesterfield students learn dangers of distracted driving

P. Kevin Morley / Times-Dispatch

Elliot Harris, 17, tries to drive while drinking a bottle of water (top) and while texting as part in an Allstate Insurance demonstration on distractions for drivers.

MELODIE N. MARTIN TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Published: May 9, 2009

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DRIVING DISTRACTIONS
DRIVING WHILE TALKING
• Distraction from cell-phone use while driving (hand-held or hands-free) equals having a blood alcohol concentration of .08. (University of Utah)
• The No. 1 source of driver inattention is use of a wireless device. (Virginia Tech, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
• Drivers who use cell phones are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. (NHTSA, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
• 10 percent of drivers age 16 to 24 are on their phones at any one time.
• Driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent. (Carnegie Mellon)
SOURCE: Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.

DANGEROUS DRIVING
• Nearly 5,000 teenagers are killed and 300,000 are injured annually in the United States in auto crashes.
• Speeding and tickets: In 2005, speed-related crashes accounted for 44 percent of fatalities among 15to 20-year-olds.
• Crashes: 16-year-old drivers have crash rates that are three times greater than 17-year-old drivers and five times greater than 18-year-old drivers.
• Drinking and driving: In 2005, drunken driving caused one of every four fatal teen crashes.
• Cell phones : Talking on a cell phone while driving gives a young driver the reaction time of a 70-year-old.
• Time of day: Half the teens who died in car crashes in 2005 were killed between 3 p.m. and midnight.
• Number of passengers: Research shows the presence of one more male teen in a car doubles the chance of a fatal crash.
SOURCE: Allstate Insurance Co.

Lindsay Mongra chortled as fellow James River High School student Elliot Harris, 17, mowed over four yellow traffic cones with a sport utility vehicle.

But Mongra, 18, didn't do much better when instructed to weave a car through the course and eat a granola bar at the same time.

"Oh, I did hit a cone. I hit two cones. Oh, snap!" he groaned, having only managed to bite off a corner of the snack wrapper. "That's what happens when you don't pay attention."

They were among four teenage drivers from Chesterfield County put through a simple driving course yesterday that became exponentially more difficult with the addition of distracting tasks such as changing the radio station, chatting with passengers and text messaging.

The demonstration at the Richmond Raceway Complex was arranged by Allstate Insurance Co. and Redmond, Wash.-based Swerve Driver Training. Yesterday's event was among 42 being held across the country as part of Allstate's Action Against Distraction public-awareness campaign.

Automobile crashes are the No. 1 killer of teenagers in the United States, with an annual death toll of nearly 5,000, said Steve Alvine, yesterday's chief driving instructor. He added that teens who are using electronic devices or are distracted in the car are six times more likely to be involved in a wreck.

"Going out there and driving and doing all the things you think you can get away with is probably not the best idea. That text message can wait," Alvine told the teens after the exercise. "Unless you guys are going to join the service and end up in Afghanistan and Iraq, this will be the most dangerous thing you do for the rest of your life."

Matilda Nassar, 16, and Michelle Vermaaten, 17, both sophomores at Midlothian High School, agreed that it was easy to miss something on the road while doing other things in the car.

"I couldn't pay attention and text at the same time at all," Vermaaten said.

Contact Melodie N. Martin at (804) 649-6290 or .