Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Gloria Austin
SIMULATOR — Emily Brown, right, tries her hand at the driving simulator while Maine State Police Trooper Dennis Quint looks on.
By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
Okay. Admit this one. You are just like me. A cup of coffee in one hand and on the road we go, right? Translate that to a teenager’s world and you have a cell phone in hand and ready to go.
Distracted drivers.
It isn’t just the person who climbs behind the wheel after drinking or getting high. If we are distracted, while driving, we are impaired as well. We are no different than the OUI driver. We also choose our actions.
Last Wednesday, the Law Enforcement Class at Region 2 School of Applied Technology presented orally and visually the dangers looming for a distracted driver. Though dangers of texting and driving were the highlight of the assembly to high school students, guest speakers warned that many things distract drivers — drinking coffee, eating, talking on a cell phone to paying more attention to what is going on in the car instead of watching the road, even putting on makeup to changing the radio station — all are potentially hazardous.
“The timeliness of this presentation is perfect,” said Houlton High School Principal Marty Bouchard. “Many of you either have your license or are going to get it right off. I would say all of you probably have a cell phone. The dangers of texting and driving are really, really high.”
Emergency Medical Technician Paul Stewart asked students why he would know the dates of proms and local graduation ceremonies.
Why would Stewart know that? Because the Houlton Ambulance Service has extra crews available during these times.
Stewart explained that every other year in the five high school in the area, a junior or senior and even sometimes a sophomore doesn’t get home. He noted that is always a distracted operator.
Stewart asked if anyone had disappointed their parents; then, he said if you don’t come home “you will change them forever. They will never be the same. They can’t live now the way they did without you. They can only learn to adapt to a world without you.
“We didn’t lose anyone last year,” Stewart added. “Statistically we lose [a teenager] every other year. Think about it. Everything we have done here is for real.”
Houlton Police Ltn. Danny Pelletier, a 38-year veteran of the force, told students the two top factors for crashes is number one, texting and number two, cell phone use.
The Houlton Police Department investigates on average 235 accidents a year. They have recorded distracted driving in 78 of those accidents — showing that one-third the accidents investigated in Houlton — have distracted drivers.
“It takes two to five seconds for a dream or your life to end,” said Pelletier. “Please take driving seriously. There are too many things that can hurt us in this life that we live. Let’s not let distracted driving be one of them. Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of different accidents. I will tell you, one of the worst calls I have to go on is a death notification. I see a lot of bright faces here today and I want to see them tomorrow.”
Maine State Trooper Jared Sylvia read the laws pertaining to distracted driving and texting while driving.
“If we feel that what you are doing while operating your vehicle is something that would reasonably affect or impair your driving, you can be pulled over,” he said. “Failure to maintain control of a motor vehicle is very common for accidents in our area.”
Texting and driving is prohibited and the penalty is a fine not less than $250 and not more than $500 that may be adjudged. The courts has set the fine at $310.
“As for my agency, you have probably seen in the newspaper recently about [our] seat belt [campaign] which we highly enforce,” Sylvia said. “The same goes for texting and driving. If we see you, you will get a ticket.”
Sylvia shared a recent story about a female operator on a traffic complaint made by another motorist who said the vehicle was all over the road.
“There was a car traveling southbound on Route 1,” said Sylvia. “It was a female driver. The motorist didn’t know what was going on. A trooper went north and met the vehicle. He turned around and followed the vehicle for a ways. At one point, she crossed over the center line into the other lane, crossed back over into her lane; then crossed into the breakdown lane and almost into the ditch before coming back on the road. Obviously, the trooper behind that vehicle stopped the car. He talked with the operator. She admitted to what she was doing. She was driving and sending a text message.
“The funny thing about this one,” said Sylvia. “The very same driver about two weeks ago is the same driver I stopped, in almost the same area, for almost the same thing. At that time, she was talking on her cell phone doing 80 mph in a 50 mph zone. So, 30 mph over the speed limit is criminal speed that means you aren’t getting a traffic ticket, you are getting a court ticket. So within two weeks, this female operator was fined $310 texting while driving. She also happened to be under suspension. She got a ticket for operating after suspension and another ticket for criminal speeding.”
STUDENT — Lucas Grant of Houlton was one of several students to speak out against texting and driving.
Sylvia said the Maine State Police is big on enforcing not texting and driving, especially for younger drivers.
“If we see you text messaging or using your telephone while driving, there is a very good chance we will pull you over and you will be going to court,” he added.
Stewart also noted in his portion of the program that emotions are visible from area ambulance crews and law enforcement officers when they go to calls.
“When we go to these calls guys … I have seen people your age, with their foot laying right there,” as he motions to behind his shoulder. “How can you do that? Know what, their leg comes down this side (showing full extension) but this leg comes up their back and it has a fracture at every point it bends. How many fractures can you put into a human leg? I’ve counted as high as 27. But they don’t look right, I guarantee you, when we try to put you back together on scene. If you go through one of those accidents, the pretty you are is not the pretty you will be.”
Stewart explained the it is possible to crush your skull at 3.5 miles per hour and each of us walks at five miles per hour.
“If you fall down while walking, you can actually crush your skull if you hit right,” he added. “Yet, we take the human body and we put it in a car and we propel it down the road at 50, 60, 70 or 80 miles an hour and we don’t even think about what happens when that body in that vehicle comes to a stop.
On one particular local accident, Stewart told how one young man died on him four times and the ER staff once.
Students in Hodgdon and Houlton for two days had a chance to participate in using a driving and texting simulator. It may have looked like a video game, but it made students realize how quickly something can happen when driving.
“”People don’t realize that texting while driving is harder than it looks. We assume that two seconds isn’t going matter but it does,” said Houlton senior Lizzie Flint.
Trooper Dennis Quint had spoken about bringing the simulator to the area during last year’s mentor training at RSU 29.
“The JMG students at Houlton and Fort Kent were privileged to get this,” said Dee Butler, JMG advisor.
The simulator was only at Houlton Jobs for Maine’s Graduates, it wasn’t at Hodgdon. In Houlton, 150 students were able to witness the simulator.
“We decided on this date (May 8) because that is when Trooper Quint could get the simulator and the Criminal Justice kids worked the date around their presentation,” explained Butler. “It was great working with those students.”
Houlton senior Tori Hanson was also recognized for taking an active role in promoting the dangers of texting and driving campaign within Houlton High School.
