Distracted driving: 'young people don't even think about it'

Morning North4:54Ocsoberfest

learning how to have fun without alcohol... The CBC's Olivia Stefanovich visits Sudbury's Marymount Academy for Ocsoberfest, where students are teaching their peers about the dangers of impaired and distracted driving.

Distracted driving is increasingly becoming a problem among Sudbury's youth, observers say.

Action Sudbury, a not-for-profit organization against impaired driving, said the group recently had to change its logo to include distracted driving in their awareness campaign.

Group chair Ron Roy said he's seeing more cases of people texting behind the wheel.

Young people don't even think about it, he said.

It's very sad to see because it's such a preventable situation.- SydneyHutchins,MarymountAcademy student

They hear a buzz or something. They pick it up and look at it. So if you're driving and you're doing that, you're taking your eyes off the road for "x" number of seconds. No doubt, if you continue doing it, it's going to cause a collision.

Thats a message students at Sudbury's Marymount Academy experienced first-hand as they went through an obstacle course on a scooter earlier this week.

The catch in this seemingly simple exercise was that students had to keep their eyes glued to their cell phones.

"It is very difficult, said Sydney Hutchins, one of the students who organized the challenge.

The challenge is meant to teach students about the dangers of texting and driving first hand.

There's been a lot of young lives taken from it and it's very sad to see because it's such a preventable situation."

Some young people are starting to think twice about texting behind the wheel, like Grade 7 student Abby Vinkle.

"I don't think it's a very good idea to be doing it, because lots of people can get hurt by doing it."

And they do.

Provincial police call distracted driving "the No. 1 killer on roads."