“The Save a Life Tour (SALT)” reached the campus of North Carolina A & T on Feb.28 in Exhibit Hall. It is a program presented by Kramer Edu-tainment that emphasizes the dangers and consequences of alcohol and drinking and driving.
The event was entitled “Drunk Driving Kills Make a Difference with the Save a Life Tour High Impact Alcohol Awareness Program.” The “Save a Life Tour” generally visits colleges, high schools, military bases, malls, fairs, community centers etc. It included informational take-a-ways that provided students with a better insight of drunk driving.
Upon entering the room, there were two big screens showing actual footage of tragic drunk driving crime scenes, 911 calls from deaths related to alcohol, and important DUI—driving under the influence—facts. On the far end of Exhibit there was an attention grabbing open casket with a sign that read “RESERVED Drunk Driving Victim.”
“Most of the time when we visit these places people say ‘I don’t want to hear this,'” expressed Erik Dignan a crewmember for SALT. “But once they see the videos, which are pretty graphic, it’s a big eye opener for them,” he added.
In addition, the tour includes a drunk driving stimulator, which resembles a game machine driving stimulator. The stimulator begins at a sober level. As the driver continues to drive, the blood alcohol concentration level gradually increases to 0.34. “At a .3 legally your dead, you can easily slip into a coma,” informed Dignan.
The stimulator had a split sec delay for the steering wheel, the gas and the brake. If the driver completes the obstacle without crashing, it will generally last for 4 minutes.
Prior to driving the stimulator Moyo Olusesi, a sophomore social work major and native of Nigeria, thought that it was going to be easy. “I started off and I thought I knew how to do it, so I started again,” he said.
Upon completing the stimulator, the driver was handed a mock ticket, which marked “Pass” “DUI” or “Fatal Collision,” with additional DUI facts on the other side, and a rubber bracelet that was labeled “I’ll take the keys. ” Olusesi revealed “I thought I could cheat the system by doing it twice, but I ended up having a fatal collision.”
Bryan D. Tigner, a senior geomatics engineering major and SGA Attorney General, was in charge of organizing the event. “This week SGA is focusing on health and safety,” he stated. Tigner says he was surfing the web and typing in keywords when he came across the “Save a Life Tour.” “Since 70 percent of college students try alcohol, I thought that SALT would be a good way to make sure that A&T students do not become a statistic like those who have bad experiences with alcohol.”
“I learned that if it’s the truth; it’s hard to drive drunk and I am not a great drunk driver,” laughed Olusesi.
Dignan stated, “People think that it’s never going to happen to them.” It is said that a person will drive nearly 347 times before they have any consequences. “We’re not saying you can’t drink alcohol, just be aware and make the right choices. Call a cab or have a friend drive for you.”
- DaShawn Fleming
