LHS Students Experience Drunk Driving Simulator

Seniors at Livingston High School got an experience some said they would never forget after driving a drunk driving simulator at the high school.

“It was really kind of scary,” said Hillary Bergman after driving around the parking lot at Haines pool in the simulator. “I think I am a good driver, but this proves to me that I need to be a lot more careful than I am. You think you are turning one way, but then you are turning the other.”

Team DUI of Pennsylvania DUI brought the car to the school in early June and seniors in physical education classes who are licensed drivers were given the opportunity to take the car out for a short drive around traffic cones in the parking lot.

“It was crazy,” said Jamie Brichke. “It scared me out of ever thinking of drinking and getting behind the wheel.”

Livingston Public Schools Security Officer Doug Weber noted that the program is a good experience for young drivers. “When you hit that switch, you don’t have total control because your reaction time is delayed,” Weber said.

Robyn Henning, the interim student assistance counselor for Livingston Public Schools, said she hopes the program educates students and makes them think twice before consuming alcohol or doing drugs and then driving a car. “It gives them some sense of reality as to what it is like to get behind the wheel when they are impaired,” she said.

“When the student pushes the switch in the car, their reaction time will be delayed by seven tenths of a second-the national average for one drink,” said Mike Martin, event coordinator with the Pennsylvania DUI Association. It takes that much longer for the brain to evaluate what to do when a person is driving while under the influence, noted Martin.

“It felt like I lost control,” said Danielle Rotem after test driving the car. “It was really scary.”

Students also looked at the wreckage of a car involved in a bad crash on Hobart Gap Road in Livingston when the driver was texting and driving.

Police verified that each driver was licensed before they were allowed to test drive the car, Henning said.

For information: Allison Freeman, Interim Manager of Communications and Community Outreach, Livingston Public Schools (973) 535-8000 ext. 8036 or afreeman@livingston.org.