Syracuse University students living in Sadler and Lawrinson residence halls may have been a little surprised Wednesday when they looked out their windows and saw what looked like several SU students driving drunk.

Drivers, who appeared intoxicated, were driving, not cars, but golf carts.

About 200 student drivers took part in the Virtual Intoxication Golf Cart Navigation event held from 3 to 5 p.m. Wednesday at Hendricks Field. Under the watchful eyes of members from the Division of Student Affairs, S.A.P.H.E. Options Program, Sadler A.L.I.V.E and Lawrinson Tower Power, students were able to drive golf carts through an obstacle course while wearing virtual intoxication goggles.

Dessa Bergen-Cico from S.A.P.H.E. Options Program explained that the purpose of the golf cart course was to let students experience the relationship between blood alcohol level and drinking and driving.

Bergen-Cico felt that students would attend the event because the success of last year’s event.

“The best way to learn is by doing, and this is a safe way to experience drinking and driving in a safe environment,” Bergen-Cico said.

The goggles, by distorting and blurring vision, made students feel the effects of being intoxicated with a .15 percent blood alcohol content, according to a S.A.P.H.E Options Program fact sheet.

A person with a BAC over .08 percent is normally considered under the influence of alcohol and experiences loss of balance. This person would be at a high risk of being in an accident and has a high chance of blacking out, the fact sheet stated.

A volunteer accompanied each student in the cart, asked the student before driving away how intoxicated he felt wearing the goggles and how well the student thought he would drive. After the short drive around an obstacle course of orange cones, the volunteer asked how the student felt about driving while under the influence.

Sharon Tse, a freshman broadcast journalism major, is one of the many students who participated in the virtual intoxication fair.

“I thought it was a lot of fun,” Tse said.

Even though a truly inebriated person cannot remove the pair of goggles and drive normally, organizers hope that this activity will allow students to realize the severity of the effects of alcohol on driving and in the future will not drink and drive.

For many participants, the effects of alcohol became much more apparent, particularly those effects that negatively influence driving.

Laura Vanison, a freshman advertising major, who said she never would drink and drive also thought that driving would be easier then it was.

Students were also able to attempt to dunk a volunteer in a dunk tank while wearing goggles.Organizers set up tables on the field with brochures and posters containing information about rohypnol, rave drugs, alcohol poisoning and abuse, as well as safe sex practices, complete with a condom demonstration and free condoms.

“It made me think about the people in the bars,” said Kevin O’Leary, a sophomore chemical engineering major. “How they think they’re good enough to drive home but they’re really not. It’s scary.”

Published on September 18, 2002 at 12:00 pm