EDMOND —
Reece Ritter, a University of Central Oklahoma freshman from Pryor, said he is in the moderate class of individuals who text. He acknowledged that he sends text messages while he drives.
“I’m guilty of it,” he said.
Wednesday morning, Ritter was at the UCO Wellness Center experiencing AT&T’s virtual texting-while-driving simulator designed to demonstrate potential life-and-death consequences of texting while driving.
Participants sit in a full-sized car and wear a visor that takes them on a virtual road course. Near the car, an AT&T technician uses a laptop computer to send text messages to the participant who sends a reply via their cell phone while they’re driving. After the brief simulation, the system tallies things like crossing the centerline and hitting pedestrians.
After signing a pledge to not text while driving, Ritter said during his simulator experience he struck several pedestrians. He said he will remember the experience the next time he sends a text message, and he will try to limit doing so to when he is at a stop light.
UCO junior Kaleigh Kuglmeier said she has been sending text messages since she’s had a cell phone. Kuglmeier said the realistic simulator is a reality check and the experience will likely change her texting habits.
“I think it’s a good thing they’re doing,” she said.
A recent AT&T survey found that 97 percent of teens say they know that texting is dangerous. The survey also found:
• 75 percent of teens surveyed say that texting while driving is “common” among their friends;
• Almost all teens (89 percent) expect a reply to a text or email within 5 minutes or less; and
• 77 percent of teens report seeing their parents text while driving.
Spokeswoman Emily Lang said AT&T is building on the It Can Wait campaign, which has raised awareness of the dangers of texting while driving and resulted in more than 1.2 million pledges to not text behind the wheel.
“It’s not an issue that just affects teens,” Lang said. “It affects everybody.”
Lives can be changed by texting in the blink of an eye. Lang said if you are driving a car going 65 mph and look away for one second the car would have traveled the length of a basketball court.
“In 5 seconds you’ve gone the length of a football field,” Lang said. “And we would never drive the length of a football field blindfolded. But people that text behind the wheel are basically doing that.”
AT&T offers an online driving simulator at www.itcanwait.com where citizens can take the pledge to not text and drive and anyone with access to the Internet can use an online simulator to experience the dangers of texting while driving.
The company also offers the DriveMode app that will turn on automatically once your vehicle starts moving 25 miles per hour. Then anyone who tries to text or email will receive an auto reply message telling them you’re currently driving and will get back to them soon.
While enabled, depending on your device, the app also stops incoming sounds for texts, email and voice calls so you’re less tempted to grab the phone. The app automatically turns off once the vehicle is going less than 25 mph for 5 minutes and then the user can view the calls, messages and email as they normally would.
marks@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 108
Local News
Related Photos
-
MARK SCHLACHTENHAUFEN | THE EDMOND SUN UCO junior Kaleigh Kuglmeier experiences an AT&T simulator designed to show motorists the real life dangers of texting while driving.
-
MARK SCHLACHTENHAUFEN | THE EDMOND SUN UCO freshman Reece Ritter takes a no-texting pledge after experiencing an AT&T simulator designed to show motorists the real life dangers of texting while driving.
Discussion
UCO students experience texting simulator
- Local News
-
-
OG&E works to replace Edmond power poles
“Oh my God, it’s the tornado,” Betsy Herring thought as she and her husband, Lee, took shelter in their laundry room as Sunday’s tornado roared toward their Forest Oaks home in Edmond.
-
Equine center aids Orr Family Farm horses
Connie Yearwood, a third-year veterinary student at Oklahoma State University, had been job shadowing at Equine Medical Association in Edmond when the call came to help rescue horses that were injured during Monday’s tornado in Moore and Oklahoma City.
-
Lincoln County Emergency Management calls for help
Carney is a city of about 649 residents and following the recent tornado outbreak 20 homes were destroyed there and an additional 18 homes in the county were leveled.
Wednesday, a press release from Lincoln County, along with Wellston Emergency Management Office and the City of Carney, stated that at this time the needs have changed for the city. -
Oklahoma National Guard coordinates tornado relief support
Oklahoma National Guard members, who work side-by-side with local responders to aid in recovery efforts during domestic operations such as the May 20 tornado that tore through Oklahoma City and Moore, are given their tasks through the Guard's Joint Operations Center.
The JOC, located in the Guard's Joint Force Headquarters in Oklahoma City, is primarily responsible for the collection, dissemination and tracking of information to increase the situational awareness for leadership as well as the National Guard Bureau, said Lt. Col. Hiram Tabler, the director of military support for Oklahoma's Joint Force Headquarters. -
UPDATE: Businesses, groups offer free relief to tornado victims
Listed is information on free services offered to victims of the recent tornadoes.
-
House approves $45M aid package for tornado victims
As rain poured this morning on disaster relief workers in the Moore and Oklahoma City areas, the Oklahoma House of Representatives unanimously approved a $45 million aid package to provide relief to those impacted by Monday’s EF-5 tornado.
-
TIMELAPSE: Take a tour through the damage in Moore
Take a driving tour of the damage in Moore caused by Monday's tornado.
-
Moore mayor wants tornado shelters in new homes
Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis wants tornado shelters in all new homes in his city, where an EF-5 tornado damaged or destroyed more than 12,500 homes Monday afternoon. A proposed ordinance would require a shelter inside or outside each new residence.
-
Rescue workers, tornado victims find respite in college dorms
Monday’s tornado put an estimated 20,000 people out of their houses, which were damaged or destroyed. Some of those victims — and the rescue workers who’ve come to help them — are staying a few miles south, in dormitories at the University of Oklahoma.
More than 300 individuals and families left homeless by the storm are staying at OU, where the university is providing beds, hot water and meals, often delivered by a familiar face. The university also housed 287 first-responders from Texas, Nebraska, Kansas and Tennessee. -
Mom delivered baby as tornado struck
Shayla Taylor’s second child was moments from birth as an EF-5 tornado bore down on Moore Medical Center on Monday afternoon.
Her labor was too far along to move her to safety with the rest of those in the hospital, her nurses decided. So as her husband, Jerome, and their 4-year-old son, Shaiden, went downstairs with the others, she and four nurses stayed upstairs and braced for the worst. - More Local News Headlines
-
AK-47-wielding thug may be the most bumbling crook ever
Oklahoma Survivors, Heroes Survey Damage
Trout's cycle a boost for Angels
Raw: New Video of Deadly Oklahoma Tornado
Kim Kardashian Flaunts Pregnant Bikini Body in Greece
NBA star pledges $1M to help tornado recovery
Shakira's Shocking Talent
Morgan Freeman falls asleep on air
GRAPHIC: Blood-Soaked Machete Killer Caught on Tape
Elin Nordegren Furious With Lindsey Vonn For Parading Kids in Public
Camera Captures Climber As He Loses Grip And Falls
Helen Mirren Meets with Dying Boy in Queen Elizabeth's Place
Crowd Chants '¡Si, Se Puede!' After Passage of Immigration Bill
DWTS Crowns a Winner
Police Ram House to End Hostage Standoff
Demi Moore a Rocks Bikini at Harry Morton's Family House
Anthony Weiner: I'm running for New York City mayor
Kate Middleton's Dress Flies Up
VIRAL: Baby makes epic soccer goal
The Hangover Baby All Grown Up
