Each year more and more high school students receive their learners permit and driver’s license. These big milestones come with new freedom and independence but also lead to the risk of distracted drivers.
This week, October 18 and 19, the Save a Life Tour came to Foran with their Safe Driving Awareness Program to inform, educate, and demonstrate to both juniors and seniors the potentially deadly consequences that could result from poor choices made by a driver.
Students were able to experience first hand through virtual reality and simulations what it would be like to drive impaired from alcohol usage, controlled substance, and drowsiness, or distracted from cell phone use and passenger activity.
With the impaired driving simulation, students got the opportunity to use virtual reality that mimicked what a impaired driver would see while on the road. When driving the car students quickly realized that reaction time was delayed, vision lessened, and coordination decreased.
In the distracted driving simulation, students were asked to drive the car while responding to auto-generated texts being received on a phone provided.
Junior Allison Stefan says, “I think it is great that Foran was able to host this because students should be educated on distracted driving. The simulations really showed the dangers of distracted driving and I know as a driver myself that when you take drivers education, although they talk about it, with the simulations you are really able to see what it’s like and the things that can happen because of it.”
The Save a Life Tour began about 50 years ago from an entertainment company. After being later merged with another company the Save a Life Tour was created as a local program for the state of Michigan before expanding worldwide.
The program has been visiting countless schools, colleges and universities around the world for years while also visiting over 200 Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy locations throughout the country.
Ben Middleton, one of the spokesmen of the Save a Life Tour has been personally affected by distracted driving multiple times as he has lost friends to both impaired and exhausted driving as well as has rolled over his own car after falling asleep at the wheel.
Middleton says, “The Save a Life Tour is a great opportunity where the kids can have fun while learning something important at the same time.”
This upcoming year the Save a Life Tour plans to take trips to military bases in both South Korea and Germany.
