Intoxicated teen drivers are responsible for 18% of motor vehicle deaths each year. Alcohol abuse is a major factor, but teen drivers' abuse of over-the-counter drugs, prescription drugs and marijuana is rising at an alarming rate. Teens are driving impaired and putting their lives and the lives of others at grave risk. In this video, ER doctors and police investigators specially trained to recognize drug- impaired driving present a hard, on-the-scene look at how drugs impact driver alertness, reflexes and perception skills. A prosecutor specializing in DUI cases explains the legal consequences following a drugged driving crash. Finally, a mother recreates the tragic story of how her daughter died in a drugged driving crash caused by marijuana smoking.Viewers get a comprehensive view of the devastating effects of drugged driving on teens, their families and their communities.
Includes:
video, plus teacher’s resource book, student handouts and pre/post tests in digital format
Awards
Blingy Awards: Sapphire Award
Bronze Telly Award
Chris Awards: Honorable Mention
CINE Golden Eagle Award
Reviews
A scene of teens smoking marijuana opens this no-nonsense program detailing the dangers of driving while impaired by drugs and alcohol. Viewers learn about the devastating effects of driving while high through the story of Joelle, who was killed in a car crash. Her mother, her best friend Kailey, and officials familiar with the accident recount how three friends got high, drank, and then were challenged by other teens to race their cars on a country road. Chris, the driver, lost control and Joelle was killed, Kailey was severely injured, and the driver was jailed. In an emotionally powerful interview, Joelle's mother explains how she was called to the morgue to identify her daughter. Integrated throughout the narrative are testimonies by the district attorney, a police officer, doctors, and others detailing how substance abuse interferes with one's reflexes, judgment, vision, and ability to control a vehicle. The effects of alcohol and prescription and over-the-counter drugs are explained with effective, animated subtitles. All the experts are men, and there is little racial diversity. This realistic, hard-hitting program will disturb teenagers and might dissuade them from driving while impaired by alcohol and/or drugs.
- Robin Levin, Fort Washakie School/Community Library, WY
School Library Journal
This DVD focuses on the consequences of young peoples’ use of alcohol, prescription and nonprescription drugs before driving. Several incidences of tragic mutilations and deaths are brought forward. Various experts, including drug specialists and law enforcement officers, weigh in on the foolishness of young people assuming that their ability to drive is somehow enhanced or at least not impaired by the use of the wide array of drugs available to today’s youth.
- Buzz Haughton, Shields Library, University of California at Davis
Educational Media Reviews Online (EMRO)