Eyes on the road

In a race car, you can’t check your phone.

Parker Thompson knows not to get distracted while driving. The 17-year-old race-car driver from Red Deer lives out many a youth’s dream. But with speed comes responsibility. Any second that he doesn’t keep his eyes on the road can cost his life.

“I know what the ambulance drive home from the race track is like,” he said. “I would hate to see anyone take that on the road.”

Thompson spoke to a crowd of junior high students at Sturgeon Heights School in St. Albert on Thursday. He later also visited Ecole Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d’Youville (ESSMY). The visits were organized with the help of the city, the RCMP and Global Traffic Group, the city’s photo enforcement partner.

Because of his youth and racing experience, Thompson hopes he can teach other students to drive responsibly. That’s important for anyone, whether you drive 100 km/h regularly, or 240 km/h in a race car, he said. He plans to take his “don’t drive distracted” campaign to schools across the province this summer.

“The truth is, I feel safer driving this (race car) and racing with competitors than I ever feel on regular roads,” he said.

According to Alberta Transportation, 20 to 30 per cent of all collisions in the province involve driver distraction. Motor vehicle collisions are also the leading cause of death and injury among Alberta’s youth. Between 2008 and 2012, statistics state that 216 drivers ages 14 to 24 were killed and 13,611 were injured in collisions.

But it’s not only text messages that can “end your life.” Thompson told students to refrain from reading or writing, doing their make-up and eating in the car. At 100 km/h, you cover the length of a football field while you look somewhere else for five seconds, he said.

“You need to wait that couple of hours, that couple of minutes, until you are home,” he said. “If I am really tempted, I just put my phone in the glove box.”

Thompson said some inspiration for his campaign came from a friend who got into an accident while driving distracted. Luckily, nothing serious happened, he said.

Some of the students attending his speech had less positive stories to tell. Dylan McCoy, Grade 8, said he was already against distracted driving before hearing Thompson speak. His cousin died years ago in a car crash, after driving upset over a break-up. “Most people don’t realize that they shouldn’t even drive when they are emotionally unstable,” he said.

Zachary Roberts has a similar story to tell. A family member died in a car crash after not having slept for a while. The Grade 8 student said there’s no reward in driving when you can’t pay attention to the road. “What’s the point in saying hi to your friends and suddenly you are in the other lane and then you get hit,” he said.

Another student, Megan Long, said she doesn’t plan on driving distracted. But the Grade 7 student sees many others do it. “Even if it’s not you that’s at risk, it’s everyone else around you that’s at risk,” she said.