Spring Break
Tour hopes to prevent drunk driving
Jack Willems
Issue date: 9/12/08 Section: News
The Save-a-Life tour stopped at the UA Wednesday to present drunk-driving testimonials and a drunk-driving simulator to students.
The Save-a-Life tour is a program designed to educate young people about the dangers of drunk driving. The tour has had presentations at high schools, military bases and universities, said Brian Beldyga, who gives testimonials for the tour. While the tour also includes movies about drunk driving and surveys, the main attraction is a drunk-driving simulator that allows students to see what it is like to drive while being increasingly intoxicated.
"They will have a sober perspective and actually see how their brain proposes to solve these problems when they are drunk," Beldyga said.
The Save-a-Life tour is put on by Kramer Entertainment, and the event at the UA was put on by Intramural/Recreational Sports, said Tiffany Gaulke, an intramural worker who helped set up the event. IMRS officials decided to sponsor the event because it was run by people who can relate to students, Gaulke said.
"They thought the beginning of the year would be a good time to do it with so many new people on campus," Gaulke said.
Beldyga talked to students about the dangers of drunk driving before letting them try the simulator. Alcohol affects the brain in such a way that it shrinks peripheral vision and depth perception, he said.
Drunk driving kills thousands of people a year and sends thousands more to emergency rooms, he said. The penalty for driving while intoxicated is going up in most states, and in New York cars can be confiscated for a DWI.
"This country treats this subject like a joke," Beldyga said.
Beldyga also talked about his own experience with alcohol. Beldyga may have driven while intoxicated "some 1,200 times," he said. However, he said he stopped after he lost his first fiancée in a car crash.
"I do this now for her and I do it for me and everyone else," Beldyga said.
He was not the only one on the tour who had experienced loss due to drunk driving. Matt Kwant, who helps set up the simulator, lost five friends to drunk driving in high school, but he did not decided to quit doing it himself until he was in an accident, he said.
The Save-a-Life tour is a program designed to educate young people about the dangers of drunk driving. The tour has had presentations at high schools, military bases and universities, said Brian Beldyga, who gives testimonials for the tour. While the tour also includes movies about drunk driving and surveys, the main attraction is a drunk-driving simulator that allows students to see what it is like to drive while being increasingly intoxicated.
"They will have a sober perspective and actually see how their brain proposes to solve these problems when they are drunk," Beldyga said.
The Save-a-Life tour is put on by Kramer Entertainment, and the event at the UA was put on by Intramural/Recreational Sports, said Tiffany Gaulke, an intramural worker who helped set up the event. IMRS officials decided to sponsor the event because it was run by people who can relate to students, Gaulke said.
"They thought the beginning of the year would be a good time to do it with so many new people on campus," Gaulke said.
Beldyga talked to students about the dangers of drunk driving before letting them try the simulator. Alcohol affects the brain in such a way that it shrinks peripheral vision and depth perception, he said.
Drunk driving kills thousands of people a year and sends thousands more to emergency rooms, he said. The penalty for driving while intoxicated is going up in most states, and in New York cars can be confiscated for a DWI.
"This country treats this subject like a joke," Beldyga said.
Beldyga also talked about his own experience with alcohol. Beldyga may have driven while intoxicated "some 1,200 times," he said. However, he said he stopped after he lost his first fiancée in a car crash.
"I do this now for her and I do it for me and everyone else," Beldyga said.
He was not the only one on the tour who had experienced loss due to drunk driving. Matt Kwant, who helps set up the simulator, lost five friends to drunk driving in high school, but he did not decided to quit doing it himself until he was in an accident, he said.
Be the first to comment on this story