Teen Texting, Drunken Driving Simulator Coming To Holtsville

HOLTSVILLE, NY — Teenagers looking to improve their driving skills and parents hoping to instill in their children the importance of safety in an automobile are in luck, as the Brookhaven Highway Department is holding a teen driver safety program Friday in Holtsville.

The program is scheduled to run from 6 p.m. t0 8:30 p.m. at Safety Town, located at 249 Buckley Rd, tweeted Dan Losquadro, the town's highway superintendent.

Youths are taken through various exercises that imitate impairment caused by drinking or texting. In one course, teens wearing vision-altering goggles to simulate the feeling of driving with a blood alcohol content between 0.06 percent and 0.30 percent. In New York, individuals can be arrested for driving with a blood alcohol content of .08 percent or more.

In another course, teens try to drive small electric cars while texting.

"Students begin by 'driving' either impaired or while texting and once they crash, they have interactions with the police, judges, ER personnel, doctors, and even a prospective boss," reads a description on the town's official website.

The vehicles that students drive are called small electric cars, though they more closely resemble go-karts. All driving takes place within the confines of a controlled obstacle course.

As part of my continuing efforts to prepare and educate new drivers and ensure safety on our roadways, the Brookhaven Highway Department is holding a Teen Driver Safety Program this Friday, July 26, from 6-8:30 pm at Safety Town, 249 Buckley Road in Holtsville. pic.twitter.com/EJWGI98L1d
— Dan Losquadro (@DanLosquadro) July 23, 2019