Mason County Sheriff's Office: Coroner's D.U.I. Simulation Course
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Pioneered approximately ten years ago by Mason County Coroner Jerome Hurley and geared toward our county’s driver’s education students, the D.U.I. simulation course captures our youth’s attention and brings “hands on” awareness about the risks associated with people who choose to operate a vehicle while driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs. “It is an excellent program in
reaching our youth about the dangers of
driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs”,
said Sheriff Wayne Youell.
Using a slightly modified golf cart, students wear
fatal vision goggles to simulate impairment caused
by alcohol and/or drugs and attempt to drive
through a course set up with orange traffic cones.
Students are surprised at how difficult this seemingly
easy course actually is when the fatal vision goggles
are worn. One student remarked, “Wow, I never
imagined how bad alcohol and drugs affect people.
It’s really scary to think about people who drive on
the roads when they have had too much to drink.”
Another said, “After going through the course, I
promised myself that I would never drive under
the influence of alcohol. I was really surprised at
how dangerous it is to drive intoxicated.”
In addition to the driving course, law enforcement
officers are available to administer field sobriety
testing to the students. Students perform the tests with and without the use of the fatal vision goggles. Coroner Hurley also invites students to play an easy game of catch or shoot some baskets while wearing the goggles to demonstrate the affects of alcohol and drug use. “It really helps to drive home the point of how difficult these basic tests and exercises are to do when you are impaired”, said Youell. “The participating students appear to have a lot of fun interacting with the coroner and law enforcement during the exercises.”
As an enhancement to this program and in cooperation with our school officials, our coroner not only speaks with the students in the classroom about incidents he has handled involving the perils of alcohol and drug use, but also shows them a slide presentation of some of the alcohol and drug related crashes that have occurred in our area involving great bodily harm or death.
reaching our youth about the dangers of
driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs”,
said Sheriff Wayne Youell.
Using a slightly modified golf cart, students wear
fatal vision goggles to simulate impairment caused
by alcohol and/or drugs and attempt to drive
through a course set up with orange traffic cones.
Students are surprised at how difficult this seemingly
easy course actually is when the fatal vision goggles
are worn. One student remarked, “Wow, I never
imagined how bad alcohol and drugs affect people.
It’s really scary to think about people who drive on
the roads when they have had too much to drink.”
Another said, “After going through the course, I
promised myself that I would never drive under
the influence of alcohol. I was really surprised at
how dangerous it is to drive intoxicated.”
In addition to the driving course, law enforcement
officers are available to administer field sobriety
testing to the students. Students perform the tests with and without the use of the fatal vision goggles. Coroner Hurley also invites students to play an easy game of catch or shoot some baskets while wearing the goggles to demonstrate the affects of alcohol and drug use. “It really helps to drive home the point of how difficult these basic tests and exercises are to do when you are impaired”, said Youell. “The participating students appear to have a lot of fun interacting with the coroner and law enforcement during the exercises.”
As an enhancement to this program and in cooperation with our school officials, our coroner not only speaks with the students in the classroom about incidents he has handled involving the perils of alcohol and drug use, but also shows them a slide presentation of some of the alcohol and drug related crashes that have occurred in our area involving great bodily harm or death.
