Schools
New Program Offers 'Crash' Course in Distracted Driving at Portsmouth High [VIDEO]
The Distractology 101 Trailer, located at PHS parking lot, is part of a tour to help make students aware of distracted driving.
students are receiving a real-life lesson this week on the dangers of "distracted driving."
The Arbella Insurance Group Charitable Foundation’s Distractology 101 neon yellow trailer will be at the Portsmouth High School’s parking lot from today until Saturday. Its hours will be from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. each day.
This stop of the tour is sponsored by Carey, Richmond and Viking Insurance of Portsmouth.
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The idea of the trailer and its two high tech interactive driving simulators is to give drivers, specifically teens, a sense of what can go wrong when they are in a distracted state of driving when using their cell phones or texting.
According to Arbella Insurance Group Charitable Foundation,
Find out what's happening in Portsmouthfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
- nearly 5,500 people were killed and almost half a million were injured in accidents related to distracted driving in 2009;
- distracted driving accounted for 20 percent of all injury crashes during 2009;
- people who text while driving are 23 percent more likely to be in a crash or barely avoid one.
Portsmouth High School Senior Jordan Borrosh was one of 10 students Tuesday to try her driving skills on one of the two simulators.
As she “drove” down the “streets,” Distractology 101’s technician Topher Paone texted and called her phone. It ended with disastrous results as Borrosh “crashed” into a truck in front of her.
“I think this will discourage kids from what they have been doing,” she said.
Anyone interested in taking a test drive can contact Andrea Hogan at Portsmouth High School or calling Carey Richmond and Viking at (401) 683-3900.
