Jessica Foster
Staff WriterIt may have looked sillyóstudents wearing goggles as they pushed friends on wheeled platforms, attempting to avoid obstacles, laughing all of the way.
But the message, as students tried their hand at operating the simplest form of machinery while wearing fatal vision goggles, was serious.
The goggles simulate the vision and motor skills of someone who is drunk. As students watched the activity, it looked easy. As they took a try at the experiment over lunch period last week, they learned getting around while impaired is much different.
Chuck Moses is safe and drug free schools coordinator and is an advisor for SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions).
The activity is part of several activities for a drunk driving and seat belt campaign.
Other Washington County high schools involved in the program include Woodbury, Park, Stillwater, Mahtomedi and Tartan.
Grants were given to each of the high schools for education and awareness activities.
In addition to the fatal vision goggles and Vince and Larry the crash test dummies visiting lunches, other events include monitoring seat belt usage at the high school, a pledge drive to get students to promise to buckle up, poster campaign in school, signs promoting seat belt usage in the high school and other safe prom activities.
ìThis is a whole awareness and education campaign weíve been putting on,î Moses said.
Jamie Eagan, a junior at Forest Lake High School is a member of SADD. Based on surveys, SADD students found about 70 percent of students driving into the parking lot each morning are buckled up. While that number is high, they are working to make it higher.
ìPeople at least think about it now more,î Eagan, who wore a seat belt before the campaign began, said.
ìMy parents raised me to wear my seat belt,î she said. ìNow I make my passengers wear seat belts.î
Eagan saw the humor in the fatal vision goggles experiment. Still, she said, the message was there.
ìIt makes you think about what if you did drive drunk,î she said. ìIt puts a nice humorous touch on a serious topic.î
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