Arrive Alive

  • Published
  • 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, ARIZ. --  The 355th Fighter Wing Safety Flight hosted the Arrive Alive Tour at the Exchange April 21-22.

The Tour travels the country using a virtual reality simulator to educate communities about distracted and impaired driving.

“It is a drinking and driving and a texting and driving simulator,” said Cameron Dodgson, AAT simulator and safety instructor. “It simulates the delayed response time under the influence of alcohol and the difficulties of texting and driving behind the wheel.”

Participants donned a pair of virtual reality glasses and were asked a series of hypothetical questions to determine their blood alcohol concentration before attempting to navigate a virtual course.

“Our push has been educating today’s youth and everyone in general of the dangers of distracted driving.” Dodgson said. “If you are driving 50 mph and the average text message takes 3 1/2 seconds to send, that is over the length of a football field were you have no attention on the road.”

After participants finished the course they were given a citation listing their infractions, which ranged from speeding to vehicular manslaughter.

“We all know that drinking and driving is a bad idea, but once you actually get put in that situation, in a safe way with the simulator, you can see how easy it is to get yourself or others injured or killed,” said SrA Samuel O’Brian, 355th FW broadcast journalist.