Schools

Cavallo & Signoriello Insurance Brings Distractology to Mansfield High School

Mobile Classroom and High-Tech Driving Simulations Give Teens and Other New Drivers Real-Life Lessons on Distracted Driving.

Cavallo & Signoriello Insurance is proud to bring the state-of-the-art Distractology 101 tour to Mansfield during the week of March 26-30. Distractology 101 is an interactive program developed by the Arbella Insurance Group Charitable Foundation to teach new drivers the dangers of distracted driving.

Distracted driving is an epidemic in the U.S.: nearly 5,500 people were killed and almost half a million were injured in accidents related to distracted driving in 2009. Distracted driving accounted for 20 percent of all injury crashes during that year.  People who text while driving are 23 percent more likely to be in a crash or barely avoid one. Studies have even shown that driving while distracted is equivalent to driving with a blood alcohol level of .08.

The Arbella Insurance Group Charitable Foundation is attacking the problem of multitasking at the wheel by introducing Distractology 101. How? With a 36-foot-long, neon-yellow mobile classroom outfitted with high-tech driving simulators that give new drivers (usually teenagers) a real-life look at the potentially disastrous effects of distracted driving.

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“Many new drivers aren’t getting the message about the dangers of distracted driving and that’s a real problem,” said John Donohue, chairman, president and CEO of the Arbella Insurance Group and chairman and president of the Arbella Insurance Group Charitable Foundation. “Nearly one in three young adults texts while driving, according to a recent Consumer Reports study. Our goal with Distractology 101 is to create a new generation of safe drivers who don’t think multitasking at the wheel is acceptable.”

More than 3,700 new drivers have gone through the Distractology 101 simulator since it launched in 2010. 90 percent of students surveyed said the experience was effective or extremely effective and 70 percent said they would recommend the experience to a friend.

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“We’re proud to be partnering with Arbella to educate teens and other new drivers about the dangers of distracted driving,” said Ben Cavallo of Cavallo & Signoriello Insurance “This is about saving the lives of our kids in Mansfield. We hope parents and teens will recognize the importance of this education effort. Training like this could be the difference between being safe and being a statistic.”

The driving simulator tour, which is based on Arbella-funded research conducted with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, will travel to select communities throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

During the driving simulator training, called Distractology 101: A Crash Course on Distracted Driving, teens and other new drivers will face a number of scenarios based on real-world examples that illustrate the dangers of distracted driving and teach participants how to anticipate hidden hazards, react to the road and avoid accidents. Participants are then asked to complete the online portion of the curriculum. At www.DistractU.com, they’ll take a training lesson for reinforcement of what they learned in the classroom and a safe driving pledge in order to complete the training. 

For more information about Distractology 101 training, contact Cavallo & Signoriello Insurance at 508-369-2771.


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