Simulator shows dangers of text and talking while driving
Posted Jun 15, 2010 04:17:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A safety expo on the Halifax waterfront is teaching people about the dangers of using a cell phone while driving.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada Be Smart, Be Safe campaign is using a simulator to get across its message.
I took a seat in the D.U.M.B. car, which stands for Distractions Undermining Motorist Behaviour. The simulator had me text and talk on the phone while travelling on a virtual highway.
Safe to say, my performance proved their point, as I narrowly missed rear-ending a line of vehicles in the right lane.
“You just barely avoided that traffic,” said Chris, a student ambassador with Be Smart Be Safe.
I had more than a dozen driver errors in the three minute course. Student ambassador, Lauren, says I was one of the better drivers.
“Nine times out of ten we have a crash,” she says. “Which is good because then people get the idea ‘oh, I’m not supposed to talk on the phone, I’m not supposed to text’.”
Miles says you’re four times more likely to get in a car accident if you’re using a cell phone. But he says cells aren’t the only distraction.
“Using an iPod or finding CDs — that’s another distraction,” he says. “So get your playlist together before you take a drive.”
The Insurance Bureau of Canada says a car travels 45 feet in one second when going 50 km/h.
The message is sinking in, as the number of police tickets for using a cell phone in HRM dropped from 256 in 2009 to 186 over the same period in 2010.
