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SALT LAKE CITY — In a stop sponsored by the Young Lawyers Division of the Utah Bar Association, the Arrive Alive Tour visited the University of Utah recently to give students a hands-on lesson in the risks of texting or drinking while driving.
The national prevention campaign uses a high-tech driving simulator to demonstrate distractions.
"We show people the dangers of distracted driving by letting them try it for themselves in a safe environment," said Tyler Herbstreith, Arrive Alive’s team leader.
During the texting simulation, students are asked to attempt to send a text message while operating the simulator, which is left on its "sober" settings.
When demonstrating drunken driving, though, the simulator delays drivers’ reaction times and weakens their hand-eye coordination to mimic the effects of alcohol. Students can program their gender, weight and typical number of drinks in a given time frame into the simulator for a more accurate experience.
"Surprisingly, you see a lot of the same mistakes from the texting and drunk driving," Herbstreith said.
Most of the mistakes can attributed to delayed reaction times, a phenomenon present in both drunk and texting drivers, he said. In fact, a 2009 study by the University of Utah found that reaction times can decrease by up to 30 percent when the driver is texting.
Surprisingly, you see a lot of the same mistakes from the texting and drunk driving.
–Tyler Herbstreith
"They’re both distractions," Herbstreith said. "A drunk person may be trying to pay attention to the road, but they can’t do it that well. … If you’re looking at your cellphone, you’re not looking at the road at all."
According to the same study, those who text while driving are six times more likely to crash than those who give their full attention to the road.
This, combined with the overwhelming prevalence of cellphones, makes texting while driving just as risky as drunken driving, Herbstreith said.
“It’s definitely something that we need to think about because (cellphones) are on us all the time," he said. "When you’re going to work, you’re not drinking and then driving in, but there might be an email or a text message that you’re trying to send."
But whatever the subject line, Herbstreith said, it can wait.
Students agree, especially after testing Arrive Alive's simulator.
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Barb Dunn was doing everything right. She talked to her then 16-year-old son Daniel repeatedly about the dangers of texting and driving and she rode with him as he drove to and from school while he had his learner's permit."I didn’t even get to type in who I was going to send my text to before I crashed," said Sawson Gholami, an undergraduate student at the U. "The simulation was a little harder than driving in real life, but I still think that discouraged me from texting when I drive."
With at least one student then, Arrive Alive has met its goals.
"The next time they get in a car and their phone goes off or they think they need to send a text message, we hope that they remember seeing the simulator and it convinces them to wait," Herbstreith said. Email: aoligschlaeger@deseretnews.com Twitter: allisonoctober
