State Farm discourages distracted driving

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Jeffrey Larsen, Reporter

On September 9th, State Farm representatives pulled into Guilford with an interesting new experience for students. Using software, they completely immersed the student in a real life texting and driving experience.

All drivers’ education classes took part in this exercise as a lesson of the dangers of texting and driving. One out of every four car accidents in the U.S. is caused by texting and driving (via www.edgarsnyder.com).

“I think it’s a great opportunity for [my students] to see how quickly things can change,” said Mr. Adam Lewis, drivers’ education instructor. Things on the road can change in a fraction of a second while driving and this simulation reflects that.

Students wore virtual reality head gear to simulate driving in a real car. The car was hooked up to the VR and acted as a big controller for the simulation. After a small amount of time regularly driving, the students took out their phones. The only way to view their phones was to take their eyes off the road, which resulted in the driver losing control and eventually crashing.

“[The simulation] is fairly accurate,” said one State Farm rep. “It uses stats from real life texting and driving incidents to create the simulation.”

“The simulator was very difficult,” said Annalissa Reyes, “It was very accurate.”