Students can "get drunk" at an interactive cyber-bar that allows participants to estimate their blood alcohol concentrations today at 11:45 a.m. in front of Popejoy Hall.
The Blood Alcohol Educator Truck is part of a national, bilingual campaign sponsored by the Century Council and the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department's Traffic Safety Bureau to raise awareness about drinking and driving.
The Century Council is a national, nonprofit organization funded by American distillers.
The goals of this campaign include reducing alcohol related fatalities and underage drinking and informing people about responsible decision-making concerning alcoholic beverages. Using English or Spanish, students will be able to estimate their blood alcohol concentration level based on sex, weight and number of drinks consumed.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Campus Office of Substance Abuse Prevention will speak about alcohol-related fatalities and underage drinking in New Mexico. Jill Anne Yeagley of the Campus Office of Substance Abuse Prevention and Terry Schiavone of the New Mexico Traffic Safety Bureau also will speak at the event.
The Albuquerque Police Department will demonstrate "drunk goggles," which are designed to make participants feel like they are looking through the eyes of someone under the influence, and will run field sobriety tests on students.
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Three out of four adults reported that they have enough information about drinking and driving and how alcohol affects their individual blood alcohol content level, according to a statement about the event. However, 72 percent of adults do not know the blood alcohol content limit for driving in their own state. In 2001, 202 alcohol-related traffic fatalities occurred in New Mexico. Thirty-three of the people killed were under the age of 21.
The Century Council began in 1991 and its mission is to promote responsible drinking and discourage irresponsible consumption through education, communications, research, law enforcement and other programs.
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