Sobering Technique

By Chad Petri Reporter

Daphne High School Students are leaning about drunk driving. Low tech devices like fatal visions goggles help in that effort. Sobering Technique

Published: Fri, February 29, 2008 - 5:14 am Last Updated: Fri, February 29, 2008 - 5:34 am

Chad Petri

Daphne High school student Josh Combs awkwardly makes his way across the classroom floor, stumbling all the way. He’s wearing fatal vision goggles. It's like looking through a fractured prism. They simulate what you'd see at three times the legal alcohol limit.

“Make you feel sick, sweat a little, lose my balance,” says Combs. At the end of the long journey, the kids give a high five--or at least try to. They grip a steering wheel as they drift along.

“I like to make it as real as possible so the steering wheel they will get when they walk the line they'll be pretending like they're driving,” says School Resource Officer Robin Snider. To demonstrate distracted driving, some volunteers wear headphones. They echo voices making it even harder to keep your balance and keep focus.

“Even if they're riding sometimes with somebody we want them to know if they're riding with someone under the influence they're still putting their life in danger too,” says Snider. The goggles are simulating what it would be like if you were drunk. You can try to walk in a straight line but the room keeps on moving.

“There's like a lot of distractions already with the phone, radio and friends and stuff and being drunk won't help,” says 11th Grader Hanna Garza. The dark goggles try to show what it's like to be under the influence of pot. Reaction is slowed and a simple walk is tripped up.

Other Resources:
Fatal Vision ® Home Page
MADD: Mothers against drunk driving
SADD: Students against drunk driving
Drug Education Council