He was part of a National Transportation Safety Board roundtable in Houston in April on the subject. Our brains are not wired that way.”įielkow is something of a crusader against distracted driving. “People say, ‘I can multitask’, but no, you cannot. “With Comcast’s use of a simulator, they are dispelling a myth,” said Brian Fielkow, chief executive of JetCo Delivery, a Houston-based trucking company. While those questioned in surveys think others shouldn’t text and drive, the respondents often say it’s OK for them to do it because they believe they can handle it. That includes distractions other than cell or smartphones, but the National Safety Council estimated that texting alone is the cause of 25 percent of all accidents. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said 3,166 Americans were killed in accidents caused by distracted driving in 2017. That distracted driving is a major safety issue is not in dispute. Even the software is familiar - it’s a modified version of the classic driving game Test Drive 2. At its core is an Xbox console, a videogame steering wheel and pedals, and a laptop controls a separate screen that shows both the driver’s face and the game’s display at the same time. The simulator is made up of off-the-shelf computer and gaming hardware. “And you should see the look on the faces of their parents as they watch the screen and see what’s happening.”ĭEADLY ROADWAYS: Read our complete series on dangerous driving in Houston “Kids are like, ‘Hey, I got this,’ and then they sit down and start driving and they realize they just can’t do it,” Baker said. It particularly makes an impression on teenage drivers - and their parents. The company has recently begun taking the simulator to public events, and setting it up at some its Xfinity stores. Comcast has seen a 70 percent reduction in collisions in which one of their drivers rear-ended another, Baker said. The decline is even more dramatic for a type of accident where distracted driving is common. You can’t really do both.”īaker said accidents involving Comcast technicians in the Houston region are down 26 percent year over year since the simulator was put into use. “We try to make the point that you really don’t text and drive,” Baker said. Thomas Baker, the environmental health and safety manager for the media company’s Houston region, believes it has had a significant impact. The rig, which was built in the summer of 2017, is used to emphasize to Comcast’s employees just how dangerous it is to try to text and drive at the same time. OUT OF CONTROL: Distracted driving is epidemic in Houston And fortunately for other drivers, he’s not out on the road, but sitting in an office on Comcast’s northwest Houston campus. Fortunately for Martinez, he’s piloting a simulator, so the crumpled metal that appears on the ’Stang’s hood is made up only of pixels.
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