Alexander Suarez/ Contributing Writer
Texting captures the attention of a driver’s eyes for an average of 4.6 seconds, according to research released in 2009 by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.
According to this research, this “equates to a driver traveling the length of a football field at 55 mph without looking at the roadway.”
The Florida Department of Transportation District Six will prompt young drivers to reconsider their use of cellphones while driving in their revamped “Put It Down” Distracted Driving campaign.
In past events, Community Traffic Safety Program Coordinator Carlos Sarmiento asks students to close their eyes for about 8 seconds and then open them. He follows this exercise by asking students if that time is worth losing their life or someone else’s.
This local initiative targets students ages 16 to 24. The campaign’s purpose is to present the dangers of distracted driving, especially due to cell phone usage while driving.
According to a study released April 2012 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, young 18-year-old to 20-year-old drivers “have the highest incidence of self-reported crash or near-crash experiences compared to all other age groups and the highest incidence of phone
involvement at the time of the crash or near-crash.”
Drivers under 25 are “much more likely to text while driving than all other age groups,” according to the NHTSA study.
According to Sarmiento, representatives of partnering organizations— such as AAA, Miami Dade County and Florida Highway Patrol— will attend the event and manage individual tables with informational and interactive material to bring distracted driving awareness to students.
The University will open up the floor for two “Put It Down” events. The first of these events will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 31 at the field east of the library at the Biscayne Bay Campus. The next event will take place at Modesto Maidique Campus at the Graham Center lawns, across the GC ballrooms on Thursday, Nov. 1.
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