Throughout the school day Monday, Boothbay Region High School students were treated to some fun and informative activities from Rick Tarr and Kelly Roderick of Atlantic Partners EMS. Two driving simulators were set up in the gymnasium and the “Seat Belt Convincer” was set up outside the shop room.

Participants could practice driving. The steering was a little tight and the brakes were about as responsive as a big rig's. Then they could try to follow traffic laws while driving distracted or inebriated.

The distracted driving portion was simulated by texting a number Tarr provided. The activity engaged the driver by asking questions. In one scenario, an off-screen friend complains about his latest OUI as he begs the driver to text the friend's boss excuses for being late.

In the inebriation exercise, the driver wears “drunk goggles” as the computer alters the steering. When the driver hits a pedestrian or another car, there are scenes from the perspective of the driver taking the field sobriety test or being transported in the back of an emergency vehicle, being arrested and going to court.

The “Seat Belt Convincer” simulates an impact at a chosen rate of speed. Tarr said he always has the contraption set for 5 miles per hour. It can go up to 10 miles per hour. He explained, the lower setting gets the point across without increasing the impact. Ten miles per hour would quadruple the impact, he said.

Tarr shared a few other numbers: The average person who texts and drives takes their eyes off the road for eight seconds. At 60 miles per hour, the distance traveled would be about the length of a football field.

“The difference between being buckled and not buckled is huge … Another car crash when people who are not wearing their seat belt (is) rollovers … The vast majority of people who get thrown out get seriously injured or killed.”

The highest death rate in automobile accidents is in rollovers. They more than all other types of crashes combined. Tarr said unbuckled passengers are four times more likely to get killed in a rollover than those wearing seat belts.

Tarr's first response to a car accident as an EMT was in Damariscotta. Three students, two boys and a girl,were on their way home from school. Tart said the driver took a sharp turn too fas and lost control of the vehicle, flipping it. The two boys were ejected. The girl, the only one using a seat belt, walked away without a scratch. The driver was pinned under the car and the other male passenger was thrown about 30 feet from the car and landed between a boulder and a tree. Tarr said it was a stroke of luck all three occupants survived.

“(The girl) had her seat belt on for a two-minute drive. It probably saved her life.”