Program drives teens to distraction — on purpose - Chicago Sun-Times
Stevie Nicks singing something about white winged doves blared over the radio, the guy riding shotgun had unfolded a broadsheet newspaper as the air conditioning blasted — and behind the wheel, Nathan Mosley was trying to fire off a text message. To hammer home the hazard of distracted driving, the 16-year-old from Quincy was offered an open bag of potato chips and asked his opinion about the NFL Draft as he attempted to weave through a bunch of orange traffic cones in the parking lot of... When driving instructor Derek Ross — who has a background in professional auto racing — turned off the radio and stopped messing with Mosley, he asked his young charge: “How’s the brain. “A lot better,” said Mosley, a high school junior who moments earlier blew a stop sign. It’s all part of Ford’s Driving Skills for Life Program, which coordinated with the Illinois Department of Transportation to invite several hundred high-schoolers from across Northern Illinois to participate in a morning of behind-the-wheel... “I was freaked out,” said Ramirez, a sophomore at Oak Forest High School. Ross hams it up to fluster drivers and encourages classmates in the backseat to join in. “We have fun, they giggle, they laugh, but they get it right away,” Ross said. “Most of them say ‘I do not text and drive, some of them talk about their parents, how their parents are doing it all the time, and they can’t believe it. ”. The point of the exercise registers seconds into the madness. Source: chicago.suntimes.com
