Teens learn dangers of driving while distracted

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Tom Guilleaume drives through a collision avoidance course as his friends (from left) Ryan Hodges Chris Cantoni and Sam Regonini try to distract him.

by Dolores Tropiano, Arizona Republic

Phoebe McCament had one hand on the wheel of her Honda Accord while her other hand gripped a plastic bottle of water.

Her radio was blasting music from her favorite station, while a woman in the passenger seat jabbered loudly over the sound of the tunes.

McCament, 17, stepped on the gas and attempted to focus beyond the barrage of distractions to the course that was before her.

Not surprising, she screeched around the road and ran over several orange caution cones.

"It was scary. I didn't know which way to go," said McCament, a student at Desert Mountain High School.

McCament was one of nearly a dozen teens attending the Action Against Distraction Driver Challenge in the parking lot of Desert Ridge Marketplace in northeast Phoenix on Tuesday.The driver training course was set up by Allstate Insurance Company to help demonstrate the dangers of distracted driving. With summer approaching, Allstate said the teenagers need to be extra careful.

"I know what a big deal distractions are for teenagers," said Amy McCament, an Allstate agent and Phoebe's mother. "But she needs to know. This (event) makes a believer at of her."

The class featured a series of obstacle courses with orange cones and flashing lights to guide drivers, who were pumped with various distractions along the way. Distractions inside and outside the car are one of the biggest threats to teen driver safety. Teenagers surveyed by the Allstate Foundation, said that they talked on their cell phone and texted while driving and changed music.

"Here take this granola bar," said Kate Starling, a driving instructor with Allstate Insurance Company to one of the test drivers. "And put the music up loud."

In addition to Desert Mountain students, teenagers from Pinnacle High School and Notre Dame Preparatory Academy attended the classes and were asked to talk on their cell phones, text message friends, munch down on snacks and attempt to stay on course.

"The idea is to that as they are going through the courses we are purposely adding distractions so the teens can see first hand how distractions impair driving ability," said Melissa Stolloff, a spokeswoman for Allstate. "We're doing this in a safe, controlled environment with professional driving instructors to replicate some of the dangerous actions teens are taking behind the wheel."

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, between 5,000 and 6,000 teens are killed in car crashes each year in the United States. June, July and August are the deadliest month for teen drivers.

The Phoenix metro area ranks sixth nationally for its high rate of fatal teen crashes on Allstate's Teen Driving Hotspots study.

Steven Sheppard, plowed around the course in his white Mustang, missing most of the cautionary cones, but catching a breeze turning sharply and quickly in response to signals from instructors.

Sheppard, 17, has been driving for a year. He told his mother, "I can't believe I was able to pass my driver's test. I feel like I am a much better driver today than I was a year ago."

Sheppard, a junior at Pinnacle Peak High School, attended the demonstration with his mother, Sheryl Sheppard.

"This is teaching him how to stop on a dime," Sheryl Sheppard said. "It's defensive driving. I think it's great practice for them."

During the course, Tom Guill, 17, of Notre Dame Preparatory Academy, was text messaging his friend, while changing the music in his car.

"It got chaotic, but it was a good learning experience," Guill said. "It's good to see how distractions affect driving."

http://www.azcentral.com/community/nephoen...riving0516.html

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Fatal facts

Gender differences: The death rate for teenage boys is twice that of girls their age.

Deadly days: Some of the deadliest days for teen drivers are July 4, Thanksgiving, New Year's Eve, and the 100 days between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Fatal crashes involving teen drivers are much more likely to happen when other teenagers are in the car, and the risk of crashing increases as the number of teen passengers increases.

Other facts:

Friends without passenger benefits: 44 percent of teens said they drive more safely without friends in the car.

Tongue-tied teens: 67 percent of teens have felt unsafe when someone else was driving, but only 45 percent said they would speak up if someone was driving in a way that made them scared or uncomfortable.

Source: The Allstate Foundation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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Thanks for the article Steven. This inspires me to try to set up something similar for the kids in our church. So many of them are now just recently driving on their own and the AADD sounds like a good program for them to go through.