This release contains: 6 Photos, 1 Related Document, 1 Video
University of Alabama at Birmingham students are getting a crash course on the dangers of texting and driving on Sept. 23.
Allstate "Reality Rides®" is making a pit-stop in Birmingham on its tour of 25 cities across America. Reality Rides is a distracted driving simulator that aims to prevent these avoidable collisions. In its third year, the campaign builds awareness about the dangers of distracted driving and offers tips and information on how to be safer behind the wheel.
In 2013, there were 253 fatalities as a result of car accidents in Alabama. To help combat these tragedies, Reality Rides is coming to the UAB Green on Sept. 23, from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.
"Reality Rides is a safe and compelling way for UAB students to see the impact distractions have on their driving," said Adam Polak, Allstate. "The goal of Reality Rides is to help eliminate the more than 3,000 lives lost and 400,000 injuries nationally caused by distracted driver related collisions each year."
A survey of more than 4,500 people who experienced Reality Rides' simulation shows that 69 percent learned more about distracted driving, and 85 percent found the program "fun and effective."
Reality Rides features a real but stationary car equipped with virtual reality technology that displays a responsive animated environment on a curved LED television embedded in the windshield. Using the steering wheel, gas and brake pedals, and the driver is tasked with driving while also attempting to text, talk on the phone and enter navigation system directions. Participants are given traffic "tickets" that reveal potential infractions a driver could receive if the experience happened in real life, and have the opportunity to take the Allstate X the TXT® pledge to not text and drive.
The Facts on Distracted Driving and Teen Safe Driving:
Distracted driving is attributed to about 16 percent of all car collisions.ii
Studies have shown drivers who text are 23 times more likely to crashi, and texting while driving is the equivalent to driving impaired after drinking four beers.ii
Car crashes are the number one cause of death for everyone in the U.S. ages 11-27, with teens crashing four times more often than any other age group.i
Stronger teen driving laws, referred to as Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL), have been shown to reduce traffic fatalities by as much as 30 percent in the states where they have been adopted.iii
The Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety found that the annual economic cost due to motor vehicle crashes in Alabama is $5.076 billioniv
Research from The Allstate Foundation's "License to Save" report found that comprehensive GDL laws could save an estimated 2,000 lives and $13.6 billion annually.iii
To track the Allstate Reality Rides tour and see photos of participants, visit facebook.com/xthetxt. While there, check out information and resources, engage in the conversation and invite family and friends to take action in support of stronger teen driving laws.
About the Allstate Corporation:
The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) is the nation's largest publicly held personal lines insurer, protecting approximately 16 million households from life's uncertainties through auto, home, life and other insurance offered through its Allstate, Esurance, Encompass and Answer Financial brand names. Allstate is widely known through the slogan "You're In Good Hands With Allstate®." The Allstate brand's network of small businesses offers auto, home, life and retirement products and services to customers in the United States and Canada. In 2014, The Allstate Foundation, Allstate, its employees and agency owners gave $34 million to support local communities. Allstate employees and agency owners donated 200,000 hours of service across the country.
About UAB
Known for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach to education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, the University of Alabama at Birmingham is an internationally renowned research university and academic medical center and the state of Alabama's largest employer, with some 23,000 employees and an economic impact exceeding $5 billion annually on the state. The five pillars of UAB's mission include education, research, patient care, community service and economic development. UAB: Knowledge that will change your world. Learn more at www.uab.edu.
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i Setting Limits, Saving Lives – The Case for .08 BAC Laws, available at www.nhtsa.dot.gov and A Comparison of the Cell Phone Driver and the Drunk Driver, available at www.distraction.gov/downloads/pdfs/a-comparison-of-the-cell-phone-driver-and-the-drunk-driver.pdf
ii Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and NHTSA, "NHTSA, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute Release Findings of Breakthrough Research on Real-World Driver Behavior, Distraction, and Crash Factors"
iii January 2015, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, "2015 Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws: Lethal Loopholes"
iv January 2015, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, "2015 Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws: Lethal Loopholes"
Contacts:
Daniel Groce, Allstate
(404) 973-5764
Daniel.Groce@allstate.com
Adam Pope, UAB
(205) 934-6986
arpope@uab.edu