UNCW Police educate about alcohol, set up check point

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Call it a crash course in alcohol education. New students at UNCW got a first hand look, however blurred it may have been, at the effects of alcohol.

Students tried to drive a car and walk a straight line with goggles that simulated a blood alcohol content twice the legal limit.

“My reaction was really delayed, so I tried to go around it, and I went too far, and then I tried to go the other way and I rammed right into a car,” student Megan Taig-Johnston said after trying the goggles.

UNCW Police set up the simulations to help discourage underage drinking.

“Just listening to some of the kids we’ve had in the cars, they say, ‘I don’t want this to happen for real. This isn’t comfortable. I don’t like these handcuffs,'” said UNCW Police Lt. James Watkins.

About 1,500 students in the US die due to alcohol related accidents each year.

UNCW not only simulated driving while impaired. Police also set up a checkpoint on the college campus last night. According to Justice in Motion, among the charges were three people arrested for DWI and six for driving after consuming alcohol under the age of 21. Officers cited 10 people for underage consumption.