About 40 teen-age drivers experienced what’s it like to drive drunk or while distracted.
Hopefully, the lessons they learned Thursday driving go-karts will stick when they get behind the wheel of less-forgiving vehicles.
The Sterling Heights Police Department, the Kart 2 Kart entertainment center in Sterling Heights and a host of sponsors held their annual Get Sharp Alcohol and Texting-Distracted Driving Awareness Program. The students from local schools including Stevenson, Ford and Utica high schools donned specially made goggles that simulate alcohol or drug impairment.
Other segments illustrated for the teens the dangers of distracted driving and even mimicked field sobriety tests administered by police officers who suspect drivers are impaired.
The goal was simple: Use the staged impairment and distractions to encourage kids to avoid the real ones.
“Young drivers are dealing with inexperience every day, but at this time of year, the stakes are raised at events that often involve the temptations of alcohol and drugs,” said police Lt. Aaron Burgess, who began the event in 2001. “We are attempting to teach young drivers how to deal with and avoid distractions to help keep them safe.”
Students who attended the program alternate between classroom presentations and the operations of go-karts on an enclosed course under supervision by police officers and other adults. Before they take a spin around the course, the youthful drivers don goggles that simulate intoxication levels ranging from slight impairment to “well over the legal limit,” Burgess said.
And they do notice the effect.
“It was hard,” said Jessica Jackowicz, a Ford High School senior. “Everything was fuzzy. I couldn’t tell how far away things were.”
Jamie Moceri, a Stevenson senior, reported a similar reaction.
“I find I don’t know how far away I am from the cones,” she said.
The young women agreed the go-kart experiment provided a worthwhile simulation, but only a simulation.
“It would have been different in a car,” Moceri said. “A lot harder.”
At another part of the Kart 2 Kart facility, Noah Skrok, a Stevenson High School 11th grader, re-discovered what he says he already knows: Texting while driving is a potentially volatile combination.
“It takes a lot (of attention away from driving),” said Skrok.
Skrok insisted he does not send text messages while driving, but he conceded: “The temptation to do it is so hard.”
Tony Eckrich, owner of Kart 2 Kart, said his facility participates in the Get Sharp event as a means to add a voice to all those others urging young drivers to practice caution.
“It’s a very important message we can all drive home,” he said. “Today’s technology is portable, it’s in everybody’s hands and it’s about the No. 1 distraction at everybody’s fingertips.”
If he needed additional motivation to operate the program, Burgess pointed to a recent spate of serious, and sometimes fatal traffic accidents in several Macomb County communities that have involved young drivers.
“Everybody hopes this is an anomaly, but the number of serious accidents involving young people has spiked,” Burgess said. “... Hopefully, the students will learn that their actions have consequences, for themselves and others. (Hopefully), they’ll take this information home and share it with their classmates. Perhaps we can begin to reduce the number of fatalities through poor decisions made on the roadways.”
Hopefully, the lessons they learned Thursday driving go-karts will stick when they get behind the wheel of less-forgiving vehicles.
The Sterling Heights Police Department, the Kart 2 Kart entertainment center in Sterling Heights and a host of sponsors held their annual Get Sharp Alcohol and Texting-Distracted Driving Awareness Program. The students from local schools including Stevenson, Ford and Utica high schools donned specially made goggles that simulate alcohol or drug impairment.
Other segments illustrated for the teens the dangers of distracted driving and even mimicked field sobriety tests administered by police officers who suspect drivers are impaired.
The goal was simple: Use the staged impairment and distractions to encourage kids to avoid the real ones.
“Young drivers are dealing with inexperience every day, but at this time of year, the stakes are raised at events that often involve the temptations of alcohol and drugs,” said police Lt. Aaron Burgess, who began the event in 2001. “We are attempting to teach young drivers how to deal with and avoid distractions to help keep them safe.”
Students who attended the program alternate between classroom presentations and the operations of go-karts on an enclosed course under supervision by police officers and other adults. Before they take a spin around the course, the youthful drivers don goggles that simulate intoxication levels ranging from slight impairment to “well over the legal limit,” Burgess said.
And they do notice the effect.
“It was hard,” said Jessica Jackowicz, a Ford High School senior. “Everything was fuzzy. I couldn’t tell how far away things were.”
Jamie Moceri, a Stevenson senior, reported a similar reaction.
“I find I don’t know how far away I am from the cones,” she said.
The young women agreed the go-kart experiment provided a worthwhile simulation, but only a simulation.
“It would have been different in a car,” Moceri said. “A lot harder.”
At another part of the Kart 2 Kart facility, Noah Skrok, a Stevenson High School 11th grader, re-discovered what he says he already knows: Texting while driving is a potentially volatile combination.
“It takes a lot (of attention away from driving),” said Skrok.
Skrok insisted he does not send text messages while driving, but he conceded: “The temptation to do it is so hard.”
Tony Eckrich, owner of Kart 2 Kart, said his facility participates in the Get Sharp event as a means to add a voice to all those others urging young drivers to practice caution.
“It’s a very important message we can all drive home,” he said. “Today’s technology is portable, it’s in everybody’s hands and it’s about the No. 1 distraction at everybody’s fingertips.”
If he needed additional motivation to operate the program, Burgess pointed to a recent spate of serious, and sometimes fatal traffic accidents in several Macomb County communities that have involved young drivers.
“Everybody hopes this is an anomaly, but the number of serious accidents involving young people has spiked,” Burgess said. “... Hopefully, the students will learn that their actions have consequences, for themselves and others. (Hopefully), they’ll take this information home and share it with their classmates. Perhaps we can begin to reduce the number of fatalities through poor decisions made on the roadways.”
No comments:
Post a Comment