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Students Face Driving Distraction Zone

Program Designed To Show Dangers Of Driving Distracted

POSTED: 6:54 pm EDT May 19, 2009
UPDATED: 8:16 pm EDT May 19, 2009

A group of Rocky Hill High School students faced a parking lot transformed into a distraction zone on Tuesday to show how dangerous distracted drivers can be.

The new drivers that took part in the event were forced to deal with loud music, annoying passengers and text messages -- all while staying on course.

"She's reading a text message while she's driving," stated Allstate instructor Rob Lindsey. "You ready? Same speed. Let's go."

Each time the young drivers drove around the cones, Lindsey added a new distraction.

"I can't do that: two crackers, music up," senior Laura Pull-Chini.

Pull-Chini had to open a pack of crackers and eat them while the Eyewitness News Reporter Katy Zachry and the station's intern played the role of her distracting friends.

Asked if it was difficult to drive with the crackers, the music, the talking and a light, Pull-Chini said, "It was really hard."

The leading cause of death for children ages 18 and younger is motor-vehicle crashes.

This is the first time this exercise has been brought to Connecticut. It was brought to Rocky Hill through the efforts of multiple state agencies.

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