A G-A student is pictured in the driving simulator wearing goggles that simulate a driver under the influence of alcohol or marijuana.
(Photo by Bruce Rolfe)
By Bruce Rolfe
The importance of making right choices is something staff at Galesburg-Augusta High School is constantly suggesting to students.
Especially with prom season approaching, followed by the end of the school year.
Making the choice not to drive while under the influence is something the G-A School District has been making for many years.
G-A students got an up close experience of what driving under the influence of alcohol and marijuana can feel like during UNITE’s Arrive Alive Tour® at G-A High School April 29.
Two days later students witnessed a mock crash scene involving a student fatality. The Galesburg-Charleston Township Fire Department performed extrication and students were exposed to other events that can take place when there’s a crash involving impaired driving.
UNITE’s Arrive Alive Tour is the nation’s number-one ranked drunk and distracted driving awareness event and features the first-and-only marijuana driving simulator in the country.
Utilizing a high-tech, state-of-the-art simulator inside a real vehicle, G-A students were are able to safely experience the dangers of distracted, drunk, and drugged driving without real-world consequences.
This hands-on experience provides a powerful look at how impairment affects reaction time, judgment, and overall driving performance.
The program is designed to leave a lasting impression and encourage students to make safer choices behind the wheel.
Students first watched a video that featured car crashes and the impact crashes involving impaired driving, can have on victims.
The G-A students had an opportunity to choose between goggles that simulate a driver under the influence of alcohol or goggles that simulate a driver under the influence of
marijuana.
Students seemed surprised how they were unable to remain in control.
“I didn’t expect it to be that crazy. And when I started driving, I thought I could have control, but I just couldn’t at all,” said G-A junior Elijah Estabrook.
“When I tried to accelerate, it was not what I expected at all. And then when I would turn, it would do it way more or way less. It was unpredictable,” adds Estabrook.
The importance of making right choices is something staff at Galesburg-Augusta High School is constantly suggesting to students.
Especially with prom season approaching, followed by the end of the school year.
Making the choice not to drive while under the influence is something the G-A School District has been making for many years.
G-A students got an up close experience of what driving under the influence of alcohol and marijuana can feel like during UNITE’s Arrive Alive Tour® at G-A High School April 29.
Two days later students witnessed a mock crash scene involving a student fatality. The Galesburg-Charleston Township Fire Department performed extrication and students were exposed to other events that can take place when there’s a crash involving impaired driving.
UNITE’s Arrive Alive Tour is the nation’s number-one ranked drunk and distracted driving awareness event and features the first-and-only marijuana driving simulator in the country.
Utilizing a high-tech, state-of-the-art simulator inside a real vehicle, G-A students were are able to safely experience the dangers of distracted, drunk, and drugged driving without real-world consequences.
This hands-on experience provides a powerful look at how impairment affects reaction time, judgment, and overall driving performance.
The program is designed to leave a lasting impression and encourage students to make safer choices behind the wheel.
Students first watched a video that featured car crashes and the impact crashes involving impaired driving, can have on victims.
The G-A students had an opportunity to choose between goggles that simulate a driver under the influence of alcohol or goggles that simulate a driver under the influence of
marijuana.
Students seemed surprised how they were unable to remain in control.
“I didn’t expect it to be that crazy. And when I started driving, I thought I could have control, but I just couldn’t at all,” said G-A junior Elijah Estabrook.
“When I tried to accelerate, it was not what I expected at all. And then when I would turn, it would do it way more or way less. It was unpredictable,” adds Estabrook.
After experiencing the driving simulator wearing the goggles, the students were then asked by G-A Resource Officer Eric Benton of the Kalamazoo County Sheriff Office to perform a sobriety test wearing alcohol or marijuana simulator goggles.
“Alcohol made me seem like I was taking really small steps and in reality, I was taking really big steps. And the marijuana one, was just, I cannot see at all. It was super foggy,” said Estabrook.
After the sobriety test, Benton placed the students under arest, made them put their hands behind their back and performed a mock handcuff. The students also received mock citations describing their blood alcohol level, and their violations. Benton told the students if they would have been arrested in reality, they would be going to jail for a period of time.
“That made me feel like it was real and like what would happen my whole life if I actually got arrested. I’d be ruined from this one moment,” adds Estabrook.
Experiencing how making a wrong decision could have an impact on his life is something that made senior Jackson Houseman think seriously.
“The most eye opening thing to me was that can happen to anybody and that nobody’s invincible. And your decisions will affect your life,” said Houseman.
Houseman said the goggles reinforced that he was not in control when he thought he was.
“I did the drunk one, and it was like, you kind of had like tunnel vision. And you’re eyes were like shady and everything was kind of delayed a little bit,” adds Houseman.
Houseman adds the field sobriety test was humbling and made him think of how a bad choice could impact others.
“I’ll be thinking about my parents, and how hard it would maybe be to get my future back on track. Because, this is really the only life you get. So just try to live it the best you can,” adds the G-A senior.
“The biggest eye opener was probably the steering. The steering, it almost felt delayed. It was very delayed and it made you swerve everywhere,” said senior Ethan Metty.
Similar to other students, Metty felt like he was in control before he placed the goggles on and began driving the simulator, but he wasn’t. Metty said he started swerving and even crashed into an object.
G-A sophomore Jenisyn Klimp said her vision was impacted the most when she wore the goggles driving the simulator.
She said the experience gives an impression a person under the influence may feel they are in control, but in reality, they may not be.
“It was scary because you could see, but everything was like split in half. You had no idea where you were. Looking forward was, like, you’re literally curving to the left. It was weird,” said Klimp.
Benton said most of the students knew they were not in control.
“It’s really good for the kids to experience the impairment of the drunk driving goggles and the cannabis goggles,” said the resource officer.
Also the resource officer at Climax-Scotts Jr./Sr. High School, Benton feels the program made an impact on the students.
“Obviously, it’s not going to hit every kid the way it should. A lot of kids take it as a joke. But I do believe it will impact a number of kids. Of course, not every one of them,” said Benton.
“Alcohol made me seem like I was taking really small steps and in reality, I was taking really big steps. And the marijuana one, was just, I cannot see at all. It was super foggy,” said Estabrook.
After the sobriety test, Benton placed the students under arest, made them put their hands behind their back and performed a mock handcuff. The students also received mock citations describing their blood alcohol level, and their violations. Benton told the students if they would have been arrested in reality, they would be going to jail for a period of time.
“That made me feel like it was real and like what would happen my whole life if I actually got arrested. I’d be ruined from this one moment,” adds Estabrook.
Experiencing how making a wrong decision could have an impact on his life is something that made senior Jackson Houseman think seriously.
“The most eye opening thing to me was that can happen to anybody and that nobody’s invincible. And your decisions will affect your life,” said Houseman.
Houseman said the goggles reinforced that he was not in control when he thought he was.
“I did the drunk one, and it was like, you kind of had like tunnel vision. And you’re eyes were like shady and everything was kind of delayed a little bit,” adds Houseman.
Houseman adds the field sobriety test was humbling and made him think of how a bad choice could impact others.
“I’ll be thinking about my parents, and how hard it would maybe be to get my future back on track. Because, this is really the only life you get. So just try to live it the best you can,” adds the G-A senior.
“The biggest eye opener was probably the steering. The steering, it almost felt delayed. It was very delayed and it made you swerve everywhere,” said senior Ethan Metty.
Similar to other students, Metty felt like he was in control before he placed the goggles on and began driving the simulator, but he wasn’t. Metty said he started swerving and even crashed into an object.
G-A sophomore Jenisyn Klimp said her vision was impacted the most when she wore the goggles driving the simulator.
She said the experience gives an impression a person under the influence may feel they are in control, but in reality, they may not be.
“It was scary because you could see, but everything was like split in half. You had no idea where you were. Looking forward was, like, you’re literally curving to the left. It was weird,” said Klimp.
Benton said most of the students knew they were not in control.
“It’s really good for the kids to experience the impairment of the drunk driving goggles and the cannabis goggles,” said the resource officer.
Also the resource officer at Climax-Scotts Jr./Sr. High School, Benton feels the program made an impact on the students.
“Obviously, it’s not going to hit every kid the way it should. A lot of kids take it as a joke. But I do believe it will impact a number of kids. Of course, not every one of them,” said Benton.
Arrive Alive Tour Traveling Educator Shaquille Hill said students typically tell him the experience was unique and the program was beneficial.
“It’s very nice to be able to give them a hands-on experience of the dangers and consequences that you can deal with being under the influence. A lot of kids were grateful to not have done it. So them being able to experience the dizziness, the swerving. You can’t see that perception delay, and staring. It’s just a bit of a blessing to be able to wake these kids up before they make a bad mistake,” said Hill.
G-A High School Dean of Students Brian Dolph feels the strong messaging the school district has been making for several years is making an impact and helping students make good choices. He said he can’t recall having a bad crash involving a student under the influence on prom night since the school district started having programs like the school district did April 29 with the simulator and the mock crash May 1.
“I feel like anytime we can offer experiences that help the kids see things through a different lens, it’s always valuable. We’ve been doing things like this for the last decade plus, and fortunately, we haven’t had any serious accidents. So, hopefully the message is starting to sink in. But I think anytime you can give kids real world examples and let them kind of have the hands-on experiences, it’s always going to be beneficial to them,” said Dolph.
“It’s kind of neat just to kind of give them that opportunity to see things through that perspective and the reality of what poor decisions could lead to,” adds the G-A dean of students.
This life-saving initiative is sponsored by the Michigan Office of Highway Safety and Planning (OHSP), the National Transportation Safety Organization, and is presented in partnership with Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan.
The Arrive Alive Tour and Michigan OHSP have partnered to launch the Arrive Alive Safe Driving Campaign across the state of Michigan. This campaign is focused on educating teens about the dangers of impaired and distracted driving, helping to reduce crashes and ultimately save lives.
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
https://legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
