2008 Woodie Awards
Save A Life Tour demonstrates dangers of driving drunk 
Amber Watson
Issue date: 9/22/08 Section: Campus
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The Save A Life Tour is a national group that travels around the country using drunk driving simulators to give people firsthand experiences of driving under the influence.
According to www.madd.org/drunk-driving.aspx, in 2007, an estimated 12,998 people died in alcohol-impaired traffic crashes. Three in every 10 Americans will be in an alcohol-related crash in their lives.
The Save A Life Tour was at ISU five years ago, said Michael Sales, a student affairs and higher education graduate student and assistant in the student affairs office.
Alejandra Alvarado-Brizuela, a curriculum, instruction and media technology graduate student, and Gloria Diaz, a senior interior design major, attended the Save A Life Tour on Friday.
"I think that students don't know, don't understand what it means to drink and drive, and it makes you realize how quickly you can lose control of a car," Alvarado-Brizuela said.
"People don't really think about the consequences of drunk driving. Trying the simulator made me realize how hard it is to control a car when you're drunk," Diaz said.
"The obvious thing is don't drink and drive, but I think in a way, in order to teach that, you have to do it in a fun and interactive way," Sales said.
"There are other things to do on the weekends rather than go out to the parties or you can go home. I just think that getting involved in campus in general no matter what it is, makes students feel a part of whatever place there at, so it makes them feel a part of ISU," Sales said.
Roderick Emery, a junior biology major and the chairman of Ideas and Issues Committee for Union Board, said the event promoted awareness of drunken driving and provided videos of the outcomes of drunken driving.
It was a fun and educational way to inform people of the outcomes of drunk driving while using simulators to educate the students, he said.
Students took a survey to test the knowledge of the students and drunken driving.
"I'm pretty sure people won't drink and drive after attending the event," Emery said.
The sponsors of the event were Student Activities and Organizations, Union Board, Residential Life and Student Health Promotions. Student Health Promotions and Promoting Health across Campus Together (PHACT), a student organization, distributed information about alcohol abuse and had activities and information about safer sex practices.
( Amber Watson is a senior journalism major. She can be reached at sascamed@isugw.indstate.edu.)
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