No, one of the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives was not lurking in the Georgia Dome’s Orange Parking Lot last Thursday afternoon. It was a demonstration by Allstate hosted by the Falcons that illustrated the dangers of driving while distracted for teen drivers.
Allstate sponsored the Falcons’ All-Access Weekend, which included Falcons’ Friday Night Lights, a scrimmage at Gwinnett County’s Brookwood High School, and Saturday’s Roam the Dome event at the Dome, which included a simulated game and scrimmage.
According to Allstate, car crashes are the No. 1 killer of teens in the United States, with nearly 5,000 dying in them annually. Teens also are four times more likely to crash than older drivers.
Among those distracted teen drivers who participated in Thursday’s event was John McKay, the son of Falcons President Rich McKay.
McKay hit his share of cones on the slalom course and had difficulty skipping cones on some passes through as directed by flashing lights.
It was no easy task. The distractions were considerable, like police officers accompanying him in the car who waved their hands, turned up the music and played with the sun visor as he was chased by police vehicles with lights flashing and sirens turned on.
“I don’t know how many I hit,” McKay said. “I know I hit a couple on a couple of trips. I missed the lights that were flashing that told me to skip cones. I definitely hit a few when the distractions really got tough.”
What lessons will he take away from the experience?
“I’ll just try to limit the distractions in the car as much as possible,” he said. “Keep the music down. Try to keep the phone away – unless it’s an emergency – and try to limit distractions because it definitely makes a big difference in your driving and takes a lot away from it.”
The lure of the phone – for texting perhaps more so than calls – is what concerns McKay’s father Rich. The father and son signed a contract before the demonstration, agreeing to certain rules, including:
- No texting. If John violates the rule, he loses the car for 30 days.
- No speeding or tickets. Violation results in loss of the car for 30 plus days.
- No drinking (at all). Violation results in loss of the car for 60-plus days.
- No crashes that are John’s fault. Violation results in 30 to 60 days with no car.
“This is what concerns me the most,” Rich McKay said of texting. “We’ve now begun to live by texting, which is a problem [when driving]. It’s a bigger problem because it takes more attention and more focus.”
Robert Lindsay, a driving instructor who acted as the program officer for the event, told the teens and their parents that, “You can’t be distracted. You have to put away some of your distractions.”
Said Rich McKay: “I will enforce the contract. Worry not.”
