Staff photos / R. Michael Semple Boardman High School students Nevaeh Lindsey, 14, left, and Albert Jenkins, 14, right, ride in a go-kart simulator in the parking lot of Boardman High School on Wednesday morning. In conjunction with the Safe Mobility Project and Akron Children’s Hospital, more than 120 students, mostly freshmen, learned first hand about distracted driving.

BOARDMAN — Albert Jenkins and Nevaeh Lindsey moved at breakneck speed to offer a few sparse and succinct pieces of advice regarding the use of electronic devices while driving.

“Just don’t,” Jenkins said.

“Put it down,” Lindsey added.

The two 14-year-old Boardman High School freshmen were in a good position to encourage others to move in those directions. They were among the pairs of students who had just been behind the wheel of a go-kart simulator they tried to navigate through a cone-filled obstacle course Wednesday in the high school parking lot.

The vehicle, from the Safe Mobility Project, provided more than 120 students — largely freshmen — with a hands-on lesson regarding the dangers of distracted and impaired driving. The project was part of their health class lessons, Kendal Daltorio, head of the school’s health and physical education departments, noted.

The event also was in conjunction with Akron Children’s Hospital.

While navigating the simulator through the course, drivers were instructed to use their phones for text messaging while passengers were tasked with feeding them information about what to type in the messages.

It wasn’t long — or far — before Jenkins, while texting, struck and dragged several orange cones as he used his phone at the behest of Lindsey. Even though he was traveling only 6 or 7 mph, Jenkins several times steered off course while overcorrecting in an effort to make a few sharp turns. He also hit several other cones later in the obstacle course.

“I was trying to tell him not to steer too much,” Lindsey said.

The ninth-grader noted she learned in class that drivers not only have their lives in their hands, but those of everyone else in the vehicle. In addition, Lindsey came to realize that driving and simultaneously experiencing powerful emotions such as anger don’t mix, she continued.

Bill McMahon, Akron Children’s Hospital’s injury-prevention coordinator, noted that Boardman has the highest incidence of traffic accidents with teenage drivers in Mahoning County — especially near high-volume areas such as Market Street and U.S. Route 224, as well as Route 224 and South Avenue.

“We teach that a vehicle can cause a lot of damage or death if not handled properly. We hit the students with statistics and real-life stories,” McMahon said, adding that he wants simulations such as the one used Wednesday to educate and empower young people.

Texting and other forms of distracted driving can be dangerous even when such motorists are stopped at red lights, because those behind them often watch for the light to change and not necessarily the cars in front of them. Consequently, they can be unaware of someone ahead of them on their phones and cause an accident by hitting them, he explained.

In addition, many teenage drivers tend to adhere to certain driving patterns, including taking the same route daily to school, for example — something that can cause a false sense of security. It’s imperative that such drivers “be aware that life is going on outside that vehicle,” McMahon stressed.

In the last five years, injury claims have increased in the township, much of which is attributable to accidents caused by distracted driving, he continued.

McMahon also advised those who are upset, angry or highly excited to wait perhaps five minutes to calm down before getting behind the wheel, since such charged emotions tend to impair one’s judgment.

After doing their best on the obstacle course, the students wore a set of virtual reality headsets to watch another driving simulation in which a teenage motorist is continually distracted as a backseat passenger shows her his phone. At one point in the simulation, a man angrily walks up to the driver after she stops — and after she nearly had struck him while not paying attention to the road.

Daltorio said most students in her health classes are freshmen who soon will be eligible to earn their driver’s licenses. A gathering such as this is invaluable because of Ohio’s new distracted-driving law that makes it illegal to hold or use a phone or other electronic device in one’s hand, lap or other parts of the body while driving.

“I thought it would be a great thing to do for our health classes,” she added.