CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Indian River High School students received a simulated lesson Wednesday on the dangers of distracted driving from Sentara Norfolk General Hospital staff.
Kids participated in a wide range of activities to see and feel what it’s like to drive while impaired.
“So, we have the driving simulator going on, which is like a virtual driving kind of reality thing,” said Jami Williams, Sentara’s injury prevention coordinator. “And then we have the impairment goggles.”
That was in addition to an activity that allowed students to drive through a fake town.
“We have little, what we call pedestrian Pete kind of stationed around to make sure that we’re following different traffic rules,” Williams said, “and we have little stop signs posted.”
She told 10 On Your Side why the event was so important.
“As the Level 1 trauma center for Hampton Roads, we see a lot of motor vehicle crashes,” Williams said. “So, we really want to raise a lot of awareness for driving safety and, whether that be for seniors or also for our youth, you know, as they’re coming up into driving, it’s just really important to know that there are safe ways that you can drive and driving impaired or distracted isn’t one of them.”
Sophomore student Kristian Anderson said although he’d been taught about distracted driving before, he still thought the activities were very helpful.
“Especially for the people that like haven’t driven yet or haven’t gotten their permit yet, it gives them an experience about what distracted driving is,” he said.
He told 10 On Your Side what his favorite activity was.
“Oh, for me personally, I like the driving simulator,” he said, “because it felt more realistic since I have driven a little bit before, so I was like, ‘Oh, this kind of feels a little too real’, you know?”
Williams said Sentara Norfolk General hopes to bring these activities to other schools throughout the year.
She also said they’re already planning on coming back to Indian River High School later in the year.
