RADD: Dont drink & drive this Spring Break
March 26th, 2013 in news
This past week we joined up with RADD (Recording Artists, Actors and Athletes Against Drunk Driving) at CSU San Marcos, and San Diego State
to inform their students about the dangers of drunk driving, especially during their upcoming Spring Break, and hopefully convince some of them
to designate a driver in their group, or make sure they take a taxi home after a night of heavy drinking.
Founded in 1986, RADD advocates the use of designated drivers, seatbelts and safe driving through control behind the wheel, making responsible
behavior the norm. Their mission is to reduce fatalities and injuries across all age groups by promoting sober driving and awareness of road
safety.
Their "college is RADD" team had set up a mock sobriety test at CSU San Marcos to give students an idea of what its like to take a sobriety test
while under the influence of alcohol. They hold similar events at Colleges and Universities accross the county.
They did this by providing "drunk" goggles which simulates in a very accurate and disorienting way what the world looks like after you've had a
little too much to drink.
During the mock sobriety test, you were first asked to do a test run walking a straight line while sober, with your hands at your side, putting one
foot infront of the other... simple enough. But the second the goggles were on, that straight line became a curve, and we only saw one person complete the course
succesfully while we were there.
There was even an officer at the scene to talk directly with students and administer the sobriety test to make the whole experience feel real.
Heres a couple of stats for you
- 3,360,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 drive under the influence of alcohol
- 1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes (Hingson et al., 2009)
- 599,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are unintentionally injured under the influence of alcohol
- 696,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking
- 25%of college students report academic consequences of their drinking including missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall
Visit our facebook page to view some more photos of the event.