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The United States Army is taking a step to improve road safety by teaching local teens about the dangers of distracted driving.
“This trailer educates our youth on the effects of drinking and driving and being impaired while driving,” said US Army Captain Jarryl Jenkins.
As teenagers are learning to drive, the lesson of the day was to put the cell phone down and focus on the road.
Hancock High School students got a crash course in distracted driving and impaired driving as the US Army brought its distracted driving simulator to the students.
“The trailer consists of two simulators that simulate drinking and also texting while driving, both of which are illegal to do. We also have a go kart with goggles that display the different effects of different things that can impair you as you are driving,”said Jenkins.
So there actually is a thing called beer goggles. While one pair of goggles simulates the effects of alcohol, another demonstrates the effects of marijuana, and other substances as well.
“Each student is going through the different cones and realizing how hard it is to actually do these simple tasks while being impaired,” said Jenkins.
“I did the ecstasy goggles and it was really hard because you would see three (of everything) and then I would think I was going for a cone and then it would change colors. It kept going from brown to super bright orange and then I would run over the cones. I was like, ok, I’m going too fast. I hit three cones,” said 12th grade student Daryn Dupont.
Captain Jenkins and his team travel across the country with this trailer visiting one high school at a time.
“Hopefully what they take out of this is not to be impaired while driving, be it texting or drinking,” Jenkins concluded.
After yesterday’s stop in Hancock, the crew is headed to Ohio, Texas, and then Florida.
