Officer suggests designated driver
by Maria Ragle reporter

    “I’m not going to tell you not to drink; I just want you to know the consequences,” a campus police officer told a group of students on NW Campus last week.

   Cpl. David L. Herndon, certified crimes prevention specialist, presented Alcohol Awareness—Experience Fatal Vision, sponsored by NW counseling center as a part of its Personal Enrichment Workshop series.

   “The number of alcohol-related accidents and suicides increases over the holiday season,” he said. “From November to the middle of January, the numbers will be greater than they are during the rest of the year.”

   What people do not know and what myths are passed around involving alcohol and drinking and driving can be eye opening, Herndon said.

   Herndon presented the fiction and facts concerning alcohol, Texas laws and the effects and consequences of drinking and driving.

   The talk addressed such myths as whether chewing gum can mask the odor of alcohol and explained how many drinks a person can have before being considered legally drunk.

   Students were given the opportunity to participate in a sobriety test with the use of “fatal vision” glasses. The glasses allow wearers to experience the effects of alcohol without being intoxicated.

   Karen Martin, a management student on the NW Campus, was the first participant to experience fatal vision during the seminar.

   Herndon led Martin through an exercise often performed by intoxicated drivers at the request of the police. He then asked her to perform the same exercise looking through the glasses.

   Martin said the comparison caused her to give some serious thought to what alcohol can do to a person, especially one trying to drink and drive.

   Several other students also took the test, each experiencing similar results.

   “Alcohol affects your nervous system, which affects your sight, balance, reactions and thought process,” Herndon said. “When a person is intoxicated, they think they know what they are saying, but it’s not what’s coming out of their mouths.”

   Although some people may scoff at the idea of designated drivers, Herndon believes in the practice.

   “Designated drivers do work; killing or seriously injuring yourself or someone else and the money involved is not worth it,” he said.

   “When you sit behind the wheel of a vehicle with an open container or allow someone else in your vehicle to have an open container, Texas law states that you, the driver, are in ‘care, custody and control of the vehicle.’ It will cost you,” he said.

   Herndon has five years of experience with the Tarrant County College District and seven years with the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office in confinement and patrol.

   Herndon said the NW Campus police department offers vehicle unlocks and jump-start services. Officers also will escort students to their vehicles when they are not comfortable with their surroundings. Students in need of these services can call 817-515-4570.