An eye-opening ride

A chain of orange cones snaked around the Ocean View High School parking

lot on Tuesday as students tried to navigate a serpentine driving course

while intoxicated.

Well, not really intoxicated.

But the modified white Dodge Neon that carried more than 100 students on

a harrowing ride that simulated the impossibility of operating a vehicle

while drunk, demonstrated just how out of control people can be when they

drive under the influence drugs or alcohol.

The demonstration, presented by the DaimlerChrysler Corp., put high

school students in a position to feel the danger involved in drunk

driving.

The kids first maneuvered the course by using the car’s normal controls,

but during the second lap, altered controls such as delayed breaking and

weak steering kicked-in, simulating the lack of control an intoxicated

driver would experience.

The Neon is outfitted with a computer that adjusts the controls according

to the driver’s weight and number of drinks consumed. A simulator crew

member who sits in the passenger’s seat ensures drivers’ safety and feeds

the computer information.

According to this data, the computer adjusts the car’s steering and

brakes to simulate a lack of control and reaction time.

A pop-up pedestrian cardboard figure completes the deadly roadway reality

of the course.

Students who finished the course stepped out of the car shaken.

“It was eerie. I hit the break and the car stopped 10 feet later,” senior

Josh Cable said. “It gives me a perspective on how bad reaction times are

when you are drunk.”

Senior Veronica Eldridge was also moved by the experience.

“There is no way someone could drive like that and not hurt somebody,”

she said.

Jerry Barnhart of Daytona beach, Fla., a crew leader for the simulator,

said: “At first kids think the drive is fun and exciting. But after they

drive it with the simulated conditions, they understand how dangerous it

is.”

The fact that the pop-up pedestrian silhouette that was run down by most

students particularly affected the drivers, but the number of number of

knocked-over orange cones at the end of the second lap also testified to

students’ lack of control.

The drunk driving simulator demonstration was begun by DaimlerChrysler 11

years ago. Three crews drive around the country visiting hundreds of high

schools with the demonstration.

The crew’s visit to Huntington Beach and the four high schools was

sponsored by Huntington Beach Dodge and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.