UF students stumbled on the North Lawn at the Reitz Union Tuesday wearing beer goggles, but they were completely sober.
Nightlife Navigators, a Student Government agency, teamed with University Police, Gainesville Police and Florida Highway Patrol officers to spread awareness about and illustrate the effects of driving under the influence.
Cristian Arango, a 20-year-old history and political science junior, arranged the safety fair in response to a recent mugging on campus and parents’ overall concerns for their children’s safety at UF.
“Sometimes police cars cannot go through areas of campus,” Arango said.
He said students should never walk alone at night and should carry items like whistles or phone numbers to call in case of an emergency.
UPD Sgt. Kristy Maculan provided “fatal vision” goggles for students at Tuesday’s fair that simulated intoxication by blurring their sight. The goggles offered increasing levels of intoxication, she said.
The demonstrations emphasized how intoxication can hinder students’ safety at night, Maculan said. While wearing the goggles, many people had difficulty walking in a straight line, throwing a ball to Maculan and balancing.
The car crash simulator replicated a vehicle smashing into an object accelerating at 7.5 mph, said Florida Highway Patrol Capt. Richard Young.
He said many students who experienced the simulator, which he called “the seatbelt convincer,” were surprised by the impact.
“They can actually experience it,” Young said. “They can say, ‘Wow, that was only 7.5 miles [per hour].’”
