Distracted driving simulator targets teens and texting

Today and tomorrow, North Vancouver RCMP, in partnership with ICBC, are putting high school students from North Vancouver through their paces with ICBC’s distracted driving simulator. Today they were at Carson Graham Secondary School, where they also had on hand two sets of fatal vision goggle, which simulate the visual effects of impairment.

How the simulator works

Driving skills are put to the test as the driver navigates busy city streets trying to obey road signs and traffic lights while responding to text messages. The simulator allows us to safely show the impact of distracted driving.

We know young kids are impressionable, said Sgt. DeVries of the North Vancouver RCMP. If we can get to them when they’re young, when they’re learning to drive, we know we will have a good chance of reducing the likelihood they will form bad driving habits.

North Vancouver RCMP and ICBC will be back at it tomorrow at Sutherland Secondary School.

The facts

More than one-in-four deaths on B.C. roads involves distracted and inattentive driving.
You’re five times more likely to crash if you’re using your phone.

The stats

ICBC statistics show that over a five-year period (2013 – 2017), BC police reported that distracted and inattentive driving*:

is responsible for more than one quarter of all car crash fatalities in B.C.
is the second leading cause of car crash fatalities in B.C., and on average result in 77 deaths each year.
Is a factor in more fatal crashes than impaired driving: on average 82 deaths occur in speed-related crashes and 68 in impaired-related crashes.

What’s behind these statistics? A survey conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of ICBC in December 2018, strongly suggests there is an answer. In the survey, drivers reported:

95 per cent recognize distracted driving has led to an increase in crashes, and 96% consider texting while driving to be risky.
And yet, 33 per cent of drivers say they use their phone at least one out of every 10 trips they take.