MAST Students Get VR Lesson In Distracted Driving

KEY BISCAYNE, FL — MAST Academy students got a virtual firsthand look at the dangers of distracted driving on Tuesday. Students donned Samsung's Gear virtual reality headsets for an immersive 3-D experience. The event was part of a 10-year effort to target distracted driving.

Kelly Starling of event sponsor AT&T told Patch that most students who experience the distracted driving simulator report that they plan to make changes to their driving habits.

"Most of the students reacted with three words when they finished the simulator: “That was scary," she explained. MAST stands for Maritime Science and Technology. The school is located at 3979 Rickenbacker Causeway.

The VR experience is part of the company's IT CAN WAIT campaign that was initially launched to focus on the dangers of texting while driving. It has since been expanded to keep pace with other developments in smartphone technology such as video chat.

"Using the It Can Wait app with the Samsung Gear VR goggles, the students feel like they are actually driving a car and they get to experience in 3-D, a real-lifelike setting — what can happen when they glance down at their smartphone to read a text or respond to a text or email," Starling explained.

View the video here with or without special VR equipment.

Recent research conducted by AT&T found that nearly 4 in 10 smartphone users check social media while driving while almost three in 10 surf the net and one in 10 conduct video chats.

You can also download the free AT&T DriveMode app from the Google Play Store or the APP Store for Apple to help prevent distracted driving. Click here to view the download page.

MAST Academy student Nicholas Garcia gets an immersive lesson in distracted driving. Photo courtesy AT&T