Students learn lessons virtually in drunk driving simulator

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Robin Malcolm got a sip of drunk driving without any taste of alcohol.

After hitting a pedestrian with his virtual vehicle, Malcolm was relieved his experience was just a simulation.

The East Lansing freshman was one of many students to try the Residence Life-sponsored drunk-driving simulator outside Bovee University Center Thursday afternoon.

“If that’s really how it is when people are driving drunk, they definitely should not do it,” Malcolm said. “It was not easy, I was focusing so hard, trying to correct any mistakes I might have made. I killed a person though.”

Several students “killed” pedestrians and themselves through the simulation and many more were “ticketed” for speeding or swerving off of the virtual road.

After providing the simulation operator with a number of drinks “consumed” in a specified time frame, students sat in the driver’s seat of a simulation vehicle. Once inside, students were equipped with virtual reality goggles impairing their vision, giving them a view of a virtual road and environment in which to drive.

Alex Basel, an employee of Professionals Encouraging Educational Reform Statewide, which provided the opportunity, said an average of 200 to 250 students try the simulation on a typical day.

“Normally they have a little bit of surprise,” Basel said. “Some will say they’ve done it before but they won’t ever do it again. In the long run, we want to save lives and keep drunk drivers off the road.”

He said the simulation vehicle is equipped with sensors on the gas pedal, break, steering wheel and on the goggles themselves, providing an accurate and realistic account of what it’s like to drive under the influence of alcohol.

“I was scared, I thought I was going to hit a kitten or something,” said Okemos freshman Taylor Hall. “I didn’t hit anybody, but I went too far off the road and crashed.”

Hall said people should not drink and drive, even if they don’t feel drunk.

“You think you might be okay, but you’re definitely not,” she said. “I thought I was doing okay, but when I tried to turn a little bit, I swerved right off the road.”

CMU Police Officer Jeffrey Ballard said he hopes students realize the seriousness of drinking and driving.

“We want to show everybody the impact alcohol can have on you without putting alcohol in your system,” he said. “These are great programs. If we can just educate a few people, it will be well worth it.”

Michelle Veith, assistant director of Residence Life, said this is the second year a drunk-driving simulator has been brought to campus.

“We liked this one because we could do it outside, it’s less intimidating,” she said. “We’ve had a steady flow, we haven’t had a long wait. I think it’s been really successful.”