Sinclair teaches the dangers of drinking and driving through their Tipsy Vision Event

On Sept. 30, Sinclair College Library hosted the Tipsy Vision event, where students lined up, put on a pair of goggles and stumbled their way through a road mat. The Tipsy Vision event was an interactive lesson on drunk or impaired driving run by Brenda Smith, a case manager at Sinclair who also works as a chemical dependency counselor.

The event involved participants putting on distorted vision lenses (with anywhere from easy to extreme distortion) and walking in a straight line, resembling what an actual sobriety test might be like. The participant’s goal was to carry a ball from one end of the road mat to the bucket at the end and successfully drop it in.

Smith said the simulation was meant to “show people that when they are drinking and driving… their vision can be really impaired.”

Throughout the event, students and staff alike took a stab at the challenge. Those wearing the extreme goggles saw the fewest visible lines on the road mat, stumbling away from the lines or off the mat entirely.

While the event itself was largely a fun, lighthearted show of student participation, the message runs deeper than that. Along with the reward of candy and stickers were informative pamphlets about the dangers of impaired driving. The simulation showed just how difficult it is to maintain motor control while under the influence, whether the influence comes from goggles or alcohol.

Lillian Klopf, reporter

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