(Not) Seeing Is Believing

 

Students at Marshwood High School in South Berwick, Maine, recently found themselves driving under the influence of bad eyeglasses… to jolt them into thinking twice about driving under the influence of stuff that comes in different kinds of glasses.

As part of a health course segment dealing with alcohol and substance abuse, sophomores wearing vision impairment goggles rode tricycles around an obstacle course filled with traffic cones. The idea was that the eye gear – also known as Fatal Vision goggles – would distort their vision and impair their coordination, helping to simulate different levels of intoxication.

One student told Seacoast Newspapers he was surprised by the number of cones he knocked down. “I felt like I was weaving through the middle,” he said, “but I guess I wasn’t. It’s crazy. I didn’t know it was that bad.”

Kathleen Donatello, an organizer with a local group that donated the goggles, said the students were beginning to understand that even slight alcohol-induced impairment “can change their perspective of what’s going on.”

South Berwick school resource officer Jeff Upton added that the program was all about awareness. “We’ve moved beyond lecturing; we want to show them that even small changes in their vision can affect their abilities to do things.”