Leaving trampled orange cones in their wake, three golf-carts haltingly traversed obstacle courses on the field behind Northern Valley High School at Demarest last Tuesday.
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staff photo by joe camporeale
A golf cart driven by a ‘drunk’ driver is freed from a cone it struck while maneuvering an obstacle course at Northern Valley High School at Demarest.
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The carts, swerving and stopping abruptly, were driven by students who were simulating the effects of alcohol impairment on their ability to drive. The Demarest Police Department oversaw the course, which involved sophomore drivers maneuvering the golf carts while wearing tinted goggles warping their visual field.
"Everything was to the right. If I was looking down my feet were over there," said Santina Antoshak, gesturing to the right. She collected four orange cones under her golf cart, which had to be pried loose from the mangled obstacles. "It was a good way to teach me not to do it because it’s so dangerous," she said.
Demarest Police Chief James Powderley said the course, which also includes shocking pictures of a fatal car accident, hits home the fact that the youngsters are not invincible.
"They get to experience first hand what it’s like to try to control a vehicle while their vision is impaired and their balance is off," Powderley said.
"No matter how good a driver they are, once their vision and balance are impaired they are not able to control the golf cart as much as they try," he said, watching several students maneuver the course simultaneously.
"It’s about making the right choices and not making destructive decisions," added Powderley.
Driving the cart in an impaired state did give students reason to think twice about the decisions they make.
"It was a good way to get us to see how it is but still let us have fun at the same time," said Schuyler Watkins. "It was a better way to learn, you’re not sitting through a class and getting bored," she said, adding that she hadn’t hit a single cone.
"But everyone was making fun of me because I was one of the slowest [drivers]," Watkins said, laughing.
Physical education teacher Brandon Silva, who accompanied his students in the golf carts, agrees that the firsthand experience benefits them, saying the more education about the dangers of alcohol, the better.
He also encourages his students to imagine the reality beyond the course.
"I have my students reflect the next day and imagine that one of those cones that they hit was an actual human being that they dragged, going a lot faster than a few miles an hour. And [then] being sentenced to 30 years of jail for manslaughter," stated Silva in an e-mail.
Powderley wants to see a program instituted in the Northern Valley that would offer teens realistic options when facing the decision of whether or not to drive drunk. He mentioned a "safe ride program" that was instituted in the Northern Valley in the 1980s, which provided volunteer designated drivers to transport teens who needed rides home but didn’t want to call their parents. He said the program fell by the wayside over the years but he wants to see a similar program instituted in the valley once more.
"We could have a local cab company and determine what dates and times and the kids could call this number and get rides home with no charge," said Powderley. "Dealing with juveniles [being transported by] private companies is a stumbling block," he added.
