PennDOT hosts distracted driving simulation at Mt. Lebanon High School

Driving a car is the most dangerous thing the average person does on a daily basis. What makes driving even more dangerous is cellphone use.
In an effort to curb drivers from using handheld devices while driving, PennDOT hosted its “Park the Phone” campaign event at Mt. Lebanon High School on May 4. The state Department of Transportation — with the help of AAA and the Mt. Lebanon Police Department — urged more than 300 students to not use their phones while driving.
Yasmeen Manyisha, safety press officer at PennDOT, said cellphone use is the main distraction for drivers ages 16-24.
“It’s really important for us to tell the students that we’re not just picking on young drivers by any means,” Manyisha said. “We see people of all ages texting and driving. We like to talk to younger drivers because they’re the ones who are learning, and they’ll be making the decisions moving forward for better or worse.”
PennDOT also put the students through a distracted driver simulator, which Manyisha said makes them understand how dangerous distracted driving is. During the simulation, the driver is texting through the touchscreen while a friend is also distracting the driver.
“It shows them how hard it is to multitask, split your attention and deal with a difficult passenger who is distracting you with all of these requests,” she said. “Most of the time students get anxious and say it was really hard. It’s really hard to multitask and to focus on so many things when you should be focused on the primary task of driving.”

Photo courtesy of Cissy Bowman
Photo courtesy of Cissy Bowman
Photo courtesy of Cissy Bowman
A Mt. Lebanon student goes through the distracted driving simulation.
Students also met Michelle Gallatin-Baughman, the daughter of Daniel Gallatin who was killed in a 2013 car crash by a texting driver. In response to his death, “Daniel’s Law” was passed in 2016 to increase the penalties for someone convicted of causing serious injury or death as a result of the driver’s texting while driving.
“After losing my father, I do not want to see any other family lose a loved one due to the careless act of texting and driving,” Gallatin-Baughman said in a press release. “It is important for drivers to put down their phones while driving, as I know first-hand, it can save lives.”
Manyisha said she hopes the Park the Phone campaign will establish good driving habits in young people.
“This event is really important because this is the time for us to reach out to these young drivers,” she said. “This is when they’re forming those behaviors, whether good or bad. This is where we give them resources and info so they can practice these positive behaviors and make good decisions.”