Frank Denzler
The student body and staff at Rushville Consolidated High School were held in rapt attention in Memorial Gymnasium Thursday morning. They were brought together for a brief visit by the “Save A Life Tour.”
The program is a part of the National Make A Difference Program that stresses the impact drinking and driving can have on one’s life and the devastation it can cause.
The program utilizes techniques that are popular with the high school age group by use of interactive immersive simulation technology that is both informative and attention getting.
The program was designed to bring alcohol awareness to the forefront and, at the same time, discourage drinking and driving.
Since 2000, alcohol-related fatalities have shown a marked increase, especially with younger drivers.
The program also centered on displacing some of the myths associated with drinking and driving. Roughly 15 percent of motor vehicle accidents involving drivers who are legally drunk occur as a result of a driver weaving back and forth across a lane of travel, while 75 percent of the accidents are a result of a motorist not being aware of their surroundings.
The program allowed the students an opportunity to sit in a driving simulator and experience what it is like to driver under the influence of alcohol and changing road conditions. The simulator uses the same state-of-the-art technology that currently is used to train many of the nation’s military and police personnel.
Prior to taking a turn at the simulator the students were shown a video and heard a true-life story of how many lives are effected by a single death resulting from a motor vehicle accident involving the use of alcohol.
“Take the keys, be a friend. Do not let anyone drive drunk. If you save just one life, you win,” the students were told.
Students sat quietly as they listened to the graphic horror and loss of what they saw and heard.
“We have to keep trying to get the students’ attention on this subject. If we can reach just one and they in turn reach out to a friend then we are doing our job. We just can’t stop trying, because then we will never win this battle,” RCHS teacher Faith Mock said.
Frank Denzler can be contacted at (765) 932-2222 or via e-mail at frank.denzler@cnhimedia.com. To add a comment to this story visit our Website at www.rushvillerepublican.com.
