Spring 2011, Fatal Vision was incorporated into Driver’s Education program in the Chatham County Schools. A uniformed police officer delivered a program on the effects of drinking and driving, using fatal vision goggles to help students understand how alcohol impairs their ability to drive. Fatal Vision continues to be a part of Driver’s Education in Chatham County, and preliminary analyses show a similar, favorable, pattern of results for the Fall of 2012. Additional analyses will be conducted Spring 2012 to see if there has been a change in the rate of riding with someone who had been drinking and drinking and driving district wide since Fatal Vision was first implemented in Chatham County Schools.

The most recent analysis determined the following:

• 95.4% of participants thought that wearing fatal vision goggles would feel similar to being under the influence of alcohol or another impairing substance.
• 95% of participants reported that it was harder to complete activities with fatal vision goggles on that it was to complete the same activities without wearing fatal vision goggles.
• 74.2% of participants were in fact surprised by how difficult it was to complete activities while wearing fatal vision goggles.
• 94.8% reported that, after their experience with fatal vision goggles, they would not ride with someone who had been drinking. This is especially noteworthy given that 21.4% of similar age youth (juniors), reporting riding with a drunk driver in the most recent Chatham County Alcohol and Other Drug Survey (2010).