Dangers of distracted driving eyed
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » AT&T’s It Can Wait 3D virtual reality simulator visited the company’s store at the Wilton Square shopping center on Wednesday as part of the initiative, which is educating people about the dangers of using a phone while driving.
The virtual reality simulator shows the real dangers of driving and using a phone at the same time.
“It was humbling. I took it myself. Humbling to me to realize how easy it is
to be distracted and how precious life is, and it really can wait,” said Richie Snyder, representing the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. “AT&T’s It Can Wait campaign is really a phenomenal way of reminding, educating and letting people know you that you have to put the phone down, you have to put your device down, so we are happy to partner with AT&T and we applaud them for this endeavor.”
The chamber partnered with AT&T to make the event happen in Saratoga County.
The It Can Wait initiative, which asks people to put their phones down when driving, began in 2010.
“As the proliferation of cell phones and uses of cell phones really mushroomed at around 2010, I think AT&T felt it was good timing in terms of showing the public safety aspects to texting while driving. It Can Wait kind of fits that bill. We’re happy to say that in a couple states where we’ve done some pretty comprehensive research that there has been a downtick in the number of texting while driving arrests from before the It Can Wait campaign started until after the campaign had its sea legs three or four years later,” said Ed Bergstraesser, an AT&T representative. “We’re hopeful that we can have the same impact in the Capital Region ... and this our first time in Saratoga. We know today is a race day, so we’re hopeful that people are stopping by the AT&T store.”
Members of law enforcement attended the simulation to remind the public of the dangers of driving while distracted.
In New York state, a person convicted of using a phone while driving receives five points on their license.
“There’s a lot of texting and driving. This county, everybody is rushing to work, rushing home,” said Sgt. Brent Dupras, with the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office. “Messaging is important to communicate for work and other things. It’s common. We deal with it all of the time, but these type of events create awareness.”
Bergstraesser shared research AT&T has done in terms of what happens while looking down at your phone on a highway.
“When you’re going 55 mph and you look down at a text it usually represents five seconds and that is the length of a football field, so you’re not having your eyes on the road for the length of a football field, which says something right there,” said Bergstraesser.
After visitors finished the virtual reality simulator, It Can Wait workers asked participants to complete a survey and pledge to never be a distracted driver.
“It was very real taking the simulator. It felt like I was out of control. I was seeing visuals of the phone coming up and I couldn’t do anything and I knew something was going to happen,” said Snyder. “Something bad did happen. When you’re distracted, that’s what happens. Bad things happen.”