Numerous students and educators in attendance at the 2018 Environmental and Spatial Technology Conference earlier this month took the pledge to stop texting and driving after testing out AT&T Arkansas' "It Can Wait" virtual reality simulator.
"Since 2010 when we started (It Can Wait), we've had over 20 million people pledge not to text and drive," said Melissa Faubel, director of external affairs for AT&T Arkansas. "(The simulator) is the only time we want you to actually text and drive, and it will show you how you really shouldn't be doing that and the consequences of that. It's not worth it. No text is worth it. And people do everything else now -- they take pictures, they do selfies. No text or any of those things is worth a life."
While in the simulator's headphones and 360-degree VR goggles, drivers hear notifications from their cellphone and are encouraged to be distracted from the road to get the feel of how quickly an accident can happen when not paying attention to the road.
"People get in it and they think they're going to be good and looking straight ahead, but the idea of it is to go ahead and look down at your phone and then all of a sudden somebody's walking out in front of you," Faubel said. "It just gives you that whole feel. It made (students) feel like they were given enough of a true feeling. They knew they were not going to hurt anybody, but it made them really think twice about it."
Many younger students at the EAST Conference who are not of driving age were encouraged to try the simulator, as well, she said.
"I've been telling the younger ones that aren't driving yet 'OK so you're in the car and whoever is driving, you tell them now not to do that,'" Faubel said. "Parents will listen to their kids lots of times with that kind of stuff."
Faubel said seven out of 10 people surveyed by AT&T have indicated that they text and drive, adding "there's no excuse to be distracted while driving."
Two students from Dover High School who attended the conference and are new drivers said the experience made them think twice about texting and driving.
"In the beginning, I was trying not to like look at the phone, because I was thinking you're not supposed to do that," said Faith Johnson, an 11th-grader from Dover. "But as it progressed I was like 'Now I'm going to look at the phone' and 'Oh, what are they saying?' and then at the end I was starting to feel it, too. I was starting to like feel the motions, and once it got to the end I thought 'Wow, this is crazy.'"
Colby Taverner, a 12th-grader from Dover, said he actually started out by looking at the phone and getting distracted by everything happening in the car.
"There was actually a point during it that I actually tried not looking, because I was trying to pay attention to what all was going on and how much you're missing while you're looking at the phone," he said. "Then I looked back at it and that's when I was caught off guard and didn't actually realize I was getting hit by something.
"There's all sorts of newer commercials telling you don't text and drive, and you see it but you're never really in that situation where it's more of a critical circumstance. (The simulator) is more like the near misses, and you finally get hit by something that blindsided you. But in this one you almost hit these people or you almost bump into these people. It's all these really close encounters that can happen in your daily drive."
Johnson said when she rides with her friends now, she will encourage them not to text and drive.
"Of course it's hard to get to teenagers, but I would just say 'Listen, I know you think you're cool and all being able to text and drive, but I've seen it and almost witnessed it basically first hand in this VR simulator, so don't do it,'" she said.
Local on 03/20/2018