Kimberly Cannon | The Valdosta Daily Times Jayla Foster drives the Arrive Alive Tour simulator at Valdosta State University Friday. The Arrive Alive Tour raises awareness about the dangers of drinking and driving as well as distracted driving. 

VALDOSTA — Unite’s Arrive Alive Tour visited Valdosta State University Friday to educate about the dangers of drunk and distracted driving through the use of a simulator. 

The driving simulator, situated inside the Arrive Alive Jeep, used Bluetooth sensors on the gas and brake pedals and the steering wheel in combination with virtual-reality goggles, said Meghan Yost, Arrive Alive safety ambassador.

Participants would drive the simulator with the goggles on, and the “blood alcohol levels” on the goggles would be increased to show how alcohol impairs driving, Yost said. She said the simulator would mimic an increase in blood alcohol level by blurring the vision on the virtual-reality goggles and delaying the steering. 

A television screen displayed to onlookers what the participants saw as they drove the simulator. 

Yost said the Arrive Alive Tour was about highlighting the dangers of distracted driving and driving under the influence. 

“Especially around spring break, we’re really making sure they understand the dangers,” she said. 

One of the VSU students who participated in the simulator was 20-year-old Jayla Foster. She said she thought the simulator was a fun way to better understand how drinking affects driving. 

Foster said in college, students party often and sometimes they might decide to drive instead of taking an Uber or having a designated driver. She said she felt having the Arrive Alive Tour come to VSU to raise awareness about the dangers of driving under the influence was important. 

Yost’s family has experienced tragedy as a result of drunk driving. She said when she was about 7 years old, her cousin was in a car accident with a drunk driver that paralyzed her from the neck down. 

She said taking part in raising awareness helps to “make sure that doesn’t happen to any other families.”

Yost also spoke of the dangers of distracted driving, such as texting. 

She said one of the tour’s common facts to share is that the average amount of time it takes to look at a text is five seconds, and if a car is going 55 miles per hour, in that brief time spent looking away from the road, a person could drive the length of a football field. 

According to a UNITE press release, UNITE brings health and wellness programs to high schools, colleges and communities across the nation to heighten awareness of the dangers and consequences of impaired driving.

 Visit www.arrivealivetour.com for more information. 

Kimberly Cannon is a Reporter with The Valdosta Daily Times. Her extension is 1376.