BELLOWS FALLS — Students at Bellows Falls Union High School recently learned that texting while driving has disastrous consequences.
Fortunately for them, this time it was only simulated.
At the Youth Safety Council's closed course, in which students drove a golf cart among cones representing pedestrians, cars, trees and guardrails, texting while driving proved to be a killer.
Students drove the course without distractions while their time and number of items struck were recorded.
Then a Youth Safety Council instructor had them drive the course again, but distracted by the task of texting a message at the same time.
Justin Ruggiero, a senior at BFUHS gave it a go. He, like many of the students who participated in the activity on Friday, struck several cones while texting.
Students laughed it off as they exited the course, but driver education instructor Jack Cahun reminded them of the serious nature of the harm they'd simulated.
Most students who filled out the pre-activity survey admitted to previous experience texting while driving. Nearly all of them said in their exit survey that they wouldn't risk it again.
The survey also asked students if they had ever been in a car when the driver was texting, and if they thought it acceptable to tell the driver to stop.
The Youth Safety Council (www.vtyouthsafetycouncil.org) provides this demonstration to Vermont schools at no cost. YSCVT is a non-profit organization serving young drivers in Vermont. Its goal is to reduce the number of accidents caused by distracted and/or impaired driving.