Japanese Driving School Got Students Buzzed To Show Dangers Of Drunk-Driving

We all know about the dangers of drunk-driving. Alcohol impacts our senses and judgment, which makes getting behind the wheel after a few drinks a pretty deadly practice. But it’s rare that you can experience the difference a couple of beers has on your skills behind the wheel in a safe, controlled manner. That’s exactly what one driving school in Japan offered students this week.

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According to The Guardian, a driving school in Chikushino, in Japan’s Fukuoka Prefecture, carried out an initiative that saw students get drunk before taking on a simple driving route to see how the alcohol affected their abilities.

The outlet reports that the Chikushino Driving School began offering “controlled drink-driving experiences” to try and combat “overconfident” motorists who think alcohol won’t affect their driving skills. In the scheme, drivers tackle three sections of a road sober and again after drinking alcohol.

After first covering a slalom, S-bend, and a series of tight curves while sober, the students pulled in and drank a 350 milliliter can of beer, a cup of umeshu plum wine, and a measure of shochu spirit over the course of about an hour. They then took on the same course after the effects of the alcohol had set in. As the Guardian reports:

A breathalyzer test on [Hyelim] Ha [a reporter that took on the initiative] detected 0.30mg of alcohol per liter of breath, twice the threshold of 0.15mg, the newspaper said. Despite having cold hands, a raised heart rate and red face, Ha said she felt able to drive.

However, the reporter’s confidence was “misplaced” and they were brought to a stop before completing the course for a second time. According to the site, they “repeatedly accelerated and slowed down unnecessarily” on straight sections of the route. And while they managed to clear the cones in the slalom section, the school’s vice head, Shojiro Kubota, brought them to a stop before taking on the S-bend.

According to the Guardian, the student was shocked to learn that they had entered the s-bend section at a much higher speed after drinking, and even swayed into the opposite lane without realizing:

“Even though [drinking] impairs the skills people need for driving, such as cognitive capacity, judgment and vehicle maneuvering ability, the driver assumes they are driving safely – that’s the danger of drink-driving,” Kubota said.

The Japanese driving school launched the initiative on the 17th anniversary of a fatal collision involving a car carrying three children. The three children in the car died after it was struck by a vehicle being driven by a municipal government employee who had been drinking.