Motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) are the leading cause of teenage deaths worldwide. Teen drivers (ages 15-19) are vulnerable to crashes from texting while driving (TWD) because of their inexperience, poor risk assessment skills, and ubiquitous use of cell phones. In this project, we will gather and analyze pilot data on a Virtual Reality (VR) game intended to teach new teen drivers about the adverse impact of divided attention, multitasking, and distractibility on driving, with a focus on TWD. VR has been used to change attitudes in other contexts. Our team’s goal is to test the VR game as a tool to augment a discussion-based educational session for teenagers on TWD. A VR game called Distracted Navigator has been developed by two of the proposers over the last two years but has not yet been piloted in teenagers. Using a VR headset and controllers, the player inside a virtual cockpit navigates a spaceship through an asteroid field in two sequential rounds – one round without any distractions and one round with distractions.
