Today Valley Lutheran High School students saw the impact of bad driving decisions. The Covenant Injury Prevention Program brought its new driving simulator and a man with a very personal message.
Neil Stokes now works to educate people about injury prevention, and always shares two stories. At the age of 3, Stokes' mother crashed her car while reaching for something, sending him through the windshield.
Somehow, he wasn't seriously hurt.
But that wasn't the case for his brother-in-law, who was critically injured after having one drink, and then drove at high speed down an unfamiliar road because he was late to meet his family.
Stokes hopes his message and the driving simulator will reinforce safe driving habits.
Behind the wheel today, the students had to deal with distractions they face every day on the road.
Then they had to try and text while driving.
"When it comes to teaching, you can always talk, you can always show videos and things like that, but I feel the more you get somebody involved, the more likely they are to get the message, inside," Stokes said.
Some teens admit texting and driving happens often.
"I have," said Catherine Claire.
"Yeah, yeah," admitted Stephen Hogenson.
Stokes hopes to change that practice, one teenager at a time. "Whether it's picking up change, reaching for something in your bag, driving tired, driving drunk or using your phone or texting, drive safe."
Helping drive home his anti-distracted driving message is Covenant HealthCare's new distracted driving simulator.
"It was extremely hard. It's way different than driving, but it taught me a lesson," Hogenson said after trying the simulator.
Hogenson, 18, was one of three students picked to get behind the wheel, with a large number of backseat drivers trying to distract him.
Catherine has only had her driver's license for four months. "Like your friends are driving with you and you don't even notice all the distractions, until like, you're in a spot, and your friends will be like, you just ran a stop sign."
It wasn't a stop sign, but a deer crossing the road while she tried to text. That sent Catherine off the road on the simulator. "It's so simple, and you never think that you're going to get in trouble for something like that. And then just one simple move can just change your life forever."
Hayden Holzhei, 15, says the simulator was eye opening, as were the stories Stokes shared about the countless lives affected by distracted driving. "It's not worth it. It's never gonna be worth it."
This is only the second time the simulator has been used at a school since it was purchased earlier this year.
