The NDSU President’s Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs will sponsor several on-campus events to highlight Impaired Driving Awareness Week scheduled from Monday, Sept. 30, to Saturday, Oct. 5.
The week will include a display of the car a West Fargo family was driving when struck by a drunk driver in 2012. Aaron, Allison and 18-month-old Brielle Deutscher died in the crash. Allison was 3½ months pregnant. The car will be displayed on Thursday, Oct. 3, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the south side of the Memorial Union.
Other events include an appearance by impaired driving awareness advocate and NDSU alumnus Vince Ulstad on Saturday, Oct. 5, and a Live Real Mentor session on Wednesday, Oct. 2.
Ulstad, who was blinded in 2009 after a drunk driver hit the car he was driving, will be a guest of NDSU President Dean L. Bresciani at the Bison home football game against Northern Iowa at the Fargodome. Ulstad’s impaired driving awareness public service announcement will be played during the game.
“My hope is that I will be able to encourage others to consider taking personal responsibility in their lives for their decisions and the consequences of those decisions,” Ulstad said. “All of us need to be alert at all times. We always are subject to not only the consequences of our own decisions, but also the decisions of others.”
The Live Real Mentor Basic session, scheduled for noon in the Memorial Union Room of Nations, will educate participants about the effects of high-risk alcohol and drug use and the proper steps to promoting an environment of safe and responsible attitudes toward alcohol at NDSU. The Live Real Mentor program has had almost 3,000 participating students, faculty and staff since its inception in 2010.
The percentage of students across the country who report driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs has steadily declined since 2001. However, any impaired driving can lead to tragic consequences for individuals and the community, said Erika Beseler-Thompson, assistant director of alcohol and other drug abuse prevention.
Quick facts:
· Almost 30 people in the United States die each day in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. It amounts to one death each 48 minutes.
· Young people are at increased risk of being involved in an alcohol-related crash at all blood-alcohol content levels.
· Impairment is not reliant on the type of alcohol consumed, but the number of drinks over a certain period of time.
· Despite popular misconceptions, coffee, a cold shower or exercise will not make a person more sober.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation’s top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.