Behind the wheel:

Driving drunk without the drink

by Rebekah Bovenmyer

You sit in the low, open go-kart just inches off the ground. You start out slow, easing your foot on the pedal. The go-kart jumps forward.

You barely touch the steering wheel to round the corners of the clover-leaf track. As the go-kart picks up speed, the wind rushes in your ears.

The go-kart hugs the turns, never grazing a single cone. By your second trip around the track, you have mastered it. You know just how much gas to give it, when to touch the brake before a curve.

Logo provided by State Farm Insurance.

Teen driver safety competition

Want to help your friends and other teens become safer drivers? Do you worry about them not wearing their seat belts or driving distracted? Now’s your chance to do something about it.

Team up with a teacher and other students and create a public awareness campaign to get your safe driving message out in Project Ignition, a teen driver safety competition sponsored by State Farm Insurance and the National Youth Leadership Council.

Your public awareness campaign can use the Internet, direct mail, print advertising, video, live performance, or other medium. Last year’s participants created school assemblies, designed print advertising, and hosted community-wide events.

To start, simply fill out the application (http://www.sfprojectignition.com/apply.htm), get your teacher’s and principal’s signatures, and mail it in by July 3, 2008.

Judges will give 25 students $2,000 to put their campaigns into action. The school with the most creative and effective campaign will win $10,000.

Visit http://www.sfprojectignition.com/ to learn more about the competition.

Even though you know what’s coming next, you’re sure you can still handle the go-kart around this track.

Returning to the start line, you wait for the remote control operator to press the button, switching on the go-kart’s “driving drunk” mode.

When given the signal to go, you put your foot on the pedal. It lurches forward, and you’re speeding down the course. You’re battling the steering wheel to keep it straight. You’re about to fly around a curve, so you slam on the brake. But the go-kart’s not slowing down.

Panicking, you yank the wheel and plow through the cones. The brakes finally kick in and you roll to a stop. Whew! You need to get your breath.

When you get back on the course, you’re still swerving all over and flying around the curves. It’s almost impossible to keep from hitting the cones at each turn. Your heart’s pounding. Your hands are gripping the wheel. You’re just trying to hang on until you can get out.

The go-kart is called SImulated DriviNg Experience (SIDNE, pronounced like Sidney), and students in Mt. Vernon, Missouri, have been using it for 3 years in their driver’s education summer class.

SIDNE “enhances the effects [of drunk driving] we talk about,” says Stan Taylor, a driver's education teacher in Mt. Vernon.

Taylor's students are glad to experience the effects for themselves without anybody getting hurt.

Rebekah Bovenmyer is the editorial assistant for Go!.