HOT SPRINGS, Ark.- HSPD recently purchased the pair of distracted driving goggles and is the only agency in Central Arkansas to have them.   They say it helps teach teens a valuable lesson. 

Officers had them wear the goggles to mimic texting and driving.  Something many teens say they don’t see as a huge problem.

” When it blacked out I didn’t know where I was going so I kind of hit cones,” says Alazae Allen, a 15-year-old Lakeside student who participated in the Teen Police Academy. 

“With the age group, with the technology that’s in place now everybody’s texting and driving,” says Officer Shawn Lowrey, HSPD. 

The goggles work by blacking out completely for different lengths of time.  In this case to simulate sending a text, you wouldn’t be able to see anything for 4.6 seconds.

“In that amount of time at 55 mph you’re traveling over 100 yards,” says Officer Lowrey. 

 Allen says she takes extra precautions to make sure she won’t text and drive. 

“When I’m driving I put on ‘do not disturb’ so no messages or calls pop up on my phone while I’m driving so I don’t get distracted,” says Allen. 

Police say when it comes to impaired driving versus distracted driving it’s about a 50/50 split, a dangerous trend that they’re trying to change, one teen at a time.