Centralia Police are letting students see the effect of drunk driving.
Administrative Lieutenant Steve Whritenour says this is the 15th year for the program.
“One day is spent in the classroom and we discuss things like what to do when you are stopped by the police. Keep hands on the steering wheel, no sudden movements in the car, things like that. The 2nd day we come out on the high school parking lot and we bring what we call our drunk goggles.”
The students start with goggles that stimulates driving with a blood alcohol content of .08, the legal level of intoxication. They then play catch with a ball and usually are able to regain their normal skills. Whitenour says goggles that stimulate twice the level of intoxication are then put on the students.
“We setup an obstacle course on the parking lot with cones and we get golf carts. We put a stronger sets of goggles on you which is about twice the legal limit for DUI. You try to drive through the obstacle course. Each one of the cones represents a telephone pole, pedestrian or another vehicle. And the goal is to get through the course without hitting any cones. Purpose is just to give these future drivers an eye opening experience of what it’s like to drive under the influence of alcohol.”
Some of the students manage to get through the course, while others hit numerous cones representing what would amount to a crash if they were actually driving drunk.
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- A students makes their way to an obstacle course with goggles that equate to driving at two times the legal level of intoxication. Photo by Pat Hodges.
