Danbury Police and AAA Team Up for Realistic Impaired Driving Demonstration

According to the Danbury Police Department, local students recently got a hands-on lesson in what impaired driving actually looks and feels like—and honestly, this is probably way more effective than another boring assembly where everyone zones out after five minutes.

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Last week, Danbury High School West SRO Hancock teamed up with Sergeant Wakeman from the department’s Traffic Unit and partnered with AAA to run a series of impaired driving classes for students. The focus wasn’t just alcohol either. One of the biggest topics was marijuana impairment behind the wheel, something that’s becoming a larger concern as legalization becomes more common and people assume driving high is somehow safer than driving drunk.

Instead of just lecturing students, the officers turned the program into an interactive experience. Kids used “beer goggles” and “weed goggles” designed to simulate impaired vision and slowed reaction time. Students also attempted sobriety tests, tried simple catch-and-toss exercises, and even rode scooters through cone patterns while “impaired.”

I actually think this is a smart way to do it because teenagers tend to believe they’re invincible until they physically experience how badly their coordination can get thrown off. Reading statistics off a PowerPoint probably doesn’t hit the same way as crashing a scooter into a traffic cone while wearing goggles that make the room spin like you just got off the Tilt-A-Whirl at the Danbury Fair.

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And honestly, the marijuana portion is important because there are still a shocking number of people who are just blazing up all day and hitting the road. On a summer day you can smell them coming.