MWSU students learn about dangers of impaired driving
By Jenna Wilson
The St. Joseph Safety and Health Council and Missouri State Highway Patrol partnered Thursday morning to teach local students about the dangers of driving under the influence.
Missouri Western State University students experienced firsthand what it’s like to get behind the wheel while under the influence through a driving simulator and impairment goggles, which diminish their physical capabilities and reaction time while trying to operate a vehicle.
“There’s been many cones that have been struck today on the lot and many of the students are surprised by it,” said John Christensen, a driving safety instructor for the safety council. “These students are learning and starting to understand how dangerous this would be if they actually were operating a motor vehicle while impaired. It’s illegal, it’s dangerous and it’s not something to take lightly.”
Students were instructed to drive through a cone serpentine course set up by driving officials. The first time without the vision impairment goggles and the second time with, and many were able to notice the difference.
“This was an eye-opening experience for me, especially when you compare driving normally without the goggles on to when they were on,” said Brandon Leese, a driver’s education student. “The second time driving, everything looked a lot different, the cones seemed more spaced out and it was hard trying to focus on the road with much of my vision being impaired.”
His classmate Marah Rocha agreed. She ran over several cones, although she didn’t expect to.
“There’s certainly a difference when you’re driving sober compared to impaired,” she said. “Even the cones I was confident I wouldn’t run into, I ended up hitting them. It made me realize how dangerous it is even just getting into the car with someone else who is impaired.”
The rate of under 21, drunken driving fatalities per 100,000 population has increased 33% over the past decade, bringing attention to the need for appropriate driving lessons.
“When you think of driving impaired, sadly, it’s the youth who’s being killed on our roadways,” Christensen said. “We want to instill in them and promote safe driving habits, legal driving habits and just the importance of when they get that independence and they get behind the wheel of a car as a teen driver, there’s a lot that goes along with it.”
The safety council still has sign-ups available for the second session of their teen summer driving course that’s set to begin June 24, where students will learn road safety along with legal traffic laws.
