Impaired driving prevention part of GSU health fair

Impaired driving prevention part of GSU health fair

Posted: Feb 20, 2013 5:51 PM ESTUpdated: Feb 20, 2013 5:54 PM EST

STATESBORO, GA (WTOC) -It’s Wellness Week at Georgia Southern University and a fair is taking place at Russell Union. Along with exercise and eating right, they’re focusing on decision making.Georgia Southern’s Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention is part of the Wellness Fair. A simulator allows students to see what it’s like to drive while texting and drive while impaired.

The Office of Alcohol and Prevention usually sees 400 to 500 students a year on some alcohol-related offense, so it is trying to get to the students before alcohol gets to them.

Students wear goggles that are supposed to impair your vision as if your blood alcohol were above .08 – the legal limit.

After the simulation, a ticket shows participants the consequences of getting behind the wheel after drinking.

“I would have to pay a $15,000 fine plus the fine to get bonded out of jail and then they said it’d be very difficult to get a job with a DUI on your record,” said Tyler Jefferson, a junior at GSU.

That’s what the university wants to get across to students, but at least one student said it’s something he learned at home.

“It’s what I’ve always been told, my parents told me if you ever come across that situation – we don’t want you to be in that situation but that be the problem, call us or stay on the couch,” said Dakota Horton, a sophomore at GSU.

“It’s not worth the risk or heartache your parents will have to go through,” Jefferson said.

Students also learned about resources if they decide to drink, such as where to pick up the shuttle bus on campus or taxis services offered in  Statesboro.

 

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