NBPD navigates ways to avoid drunken driving
Impaired driving simulated with goggles, golf carts
BY JENNIFER AMATO Staff Writer
'Oh wait, I can't see. Can you see?" Cenedra Delk asked her passenger.

Above: Steven Romanchik, a senior at North Brunswick Township High School, looks cross-eyed because of the Fatal Vision goggles he is wearing as part of the Driver Response Impaired Vision Exercise (DRIVE) program, hosted by the North Brunswick Traffic Safety Department at NBTHS on May 7. Left: Aziza Gaziev, a junior, drives over several cones, which represent human bodies, while wearing the goggles.

The passenger replied, "I'm drunk too. I don't know, I can't see."

Tires screeched. Plastic crumbled. People were yelling. A man had the look of fear as his driver tried to stop. Suddenly there was a crash.

No, there was not a horrible car accident in North Brunswick last week. Instead, the township high school held their fourth annual Driver Response Impaired Vision Exercise (DRIVE) program May 7 to educate teenage drivers about the dangers of driving under the influence.

Using specialty goggles that simulate intoxicated driving at the legal limit of .08 or up to twice that, the students navigated a set course using a golf cart, tried to walk a straight line during a field sobriety test and attempted to play catch.

PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff

Some very brave police officers and Middlesex County Department of Highways employees drove around with the students, first watching them put the key into the ignition and then letting them go at their own speed around the twists and turns of the course, leading up to a final stop sign that many students blew through.

"Most kids think they're invincible at this age. We're hoping by doing this that they see that they're not, and that there actually could be people out on the road," said Officer Dave Krause, of the North Brunswick Traffic Bureau.

Delk, a senior at the high school, ran over several cones and had a man jump out of the path of her golf cart because she was driving so erratically.

"It felt really weird. I couldn't really see too well," she said. "I hit a few cones and I thought I was going pretty straight. Drinking and driving - you just can't do it."

Rodolfo Straube, a senior, said the goggles "looked kind of confusing." He described the experience as "goofy," noting that instead of drinking at such a young age, teens have "so many other things to do to pass the time, like playing video games or something - there are so many other things to do than drink."

Senior James Schroeder agreed, especially since he would like to become a police officer.

Although he said the course was easier than he expected, he had trouble throwing a ball because his vision was so blurred.

"If I had to drink and drive, I know I'd never do it. I'd call my parents before I did anything. Or, I'd call a friend or neighbor I can trust, or I would stay where I am," he said, hypothetically.

Robert Swercheck, 18, had a bit more fun on the ride, laughing that he couldn't find the ignition hole for the key and realizing that the turns were not as easy as he thought.

"It's kind of fun but if you think about it, if [the cones] were real people, it would be really sad."

He also said that this was not as difficult as drunken driving would probably be because in a real-life circumstance, "your mind would be messed up, not just your vision."

Krause agreed, saying that if the students who think the course is easy could take the program as counterproductive, but that they must also take into account that their judgment would be severely impaired under the influence.

"You realize that you're not doing what your mind thinks you are doing," he said, adding that distractions such as passengers, conversations and music exist during daily driving.

From a more statistical point of view, North Brunswick Police Officer Thomas Vingara said there has been only one fatality in North Brunswick in the past 15 months, and the last time a teenager was killed, it was about 10 years ago. Neither incident was alcohol-related.

He therefore believes that this program does have a positive impact, and said he thinks it is needed because "people think it can't happen to them, or that they can have two or three beers and they can drive."

Yet there were still 111 drunken driving arrests last year, some of which were minors, usually during midnight to 5 a.m., according to Patrol Division Cmdr. Lt. Keith Buckley.

Vingara said especially around prom and graduation time, when there are more parties and more peer pressure to drink, instances increase.

"We're talking about a 3,000-pound car that kids think they're in control of, but they're not in control. … The car is in control of you when you're at that intoxication level."

Vingara, who is a member of the Traffic Safety/Enforcement Unit, warned the students of a police officer's job of having to watch a dead body on the side of the road, and then alerting parents of the accident that just took place.

"I do this so I don't have to go to your house," he said.

Although the common consensus among students and police officers is that minors should not be drinking underage at all, they did suggest key actions if a situation does ensue.

"If you find yourself in a situation where you were drinking, reach out to someone," Vingara said. "If you feel you shouldn't drive, you shouldn't."

The DRIVE program was initiated

in 2001 by Middlesex County Freeholder H. James Polos and is funded by the New Jersey State Police and supported by Middlesex County.

"Life is too short, and we have to take advantage of education," said Ray Rosenberg, the supervisor of roads for the county's Department of Highways. "You [have to] learn and here's the place to learn. If you hit a cone, you're not hitting a human being, and if you go through a stop sign, there's not another car there. They learn.

"And it's really not worth the risk," he said.

The North Brunswick Traffic Safety Bureau received a proclamation from the mayor and Township Council on May 5, declaring DUI Awareness Month.

The next proactive initiatives will be an assembly by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) on May 27 and Project Graduation, which offers students a fun, substance-free opportunity to celebrate after graduation, on June 19.