The police at California State University, Stanislaus, hosted a program Tuesday in the quad of the campus in which 12 Stanislaus County law enforcement agencies received new sets of Fatal Vision Goggles for drunken driving education prevention which resemble alcohol impairment when worn.

The goggles were funded through a county-wide grant called “Avoid the 12,” a DUI Law Enforcement Project. Its purpose is to enforce and educate people on driving drunk. Officers encouraged students to prevent run-ins with law for alcohol related crimes.

“I have gone to different conferences and the topic of discussion has been the rise of DUIs in the state. During the early 90s, the number was down but in the last 6 years that number has gone back up. I chose to write the grant because of that reason. I am ecstatic that we got it because this is the first time the central valley was given this type of grant,” Deputy Mike Glinskas from the Stanislaus County Sheriff Department said.

The $165,500 grant was given to the office of traffic and safety. It will pay officers overtime, off-duty time and holidays for sweep teams that need extra enforcement, he said.

“This is a great way to get the message across and a way to avoid having to respond to injuries and death,” Steve Jaureguy, the CSU Police Chief, said.

There are three type of goggles that stimulate different levels of drunkenness. The lowest level of .06 are Fatal Vision White Label Goggles, the moderate Bronze Label resemble .07 to .10 level of alcohol and the Silver Label is the highest that has a impairment level of .17 to .20.

This is one of the activities that was put on for the Greek Week activities that is going on all week at the campus. Greek Sororities and Fraternities at CSUS participated in the event. Students put on the different level goggles while downing root beer and had to go through various obstacle courses.

“I organized the program for this event. Everyday this week we will hold special events for Greek Week. We have been doing this type of event on the campus for years. Funds from a county-wide grant that was written by officer Glinskas were used to pay for the goggles. The money usually goes toward enforcement but they let us use it for educational purposes,” Amy Thomas the CSUS Crime & Emergency Resource Officer said.

More than 1 in 10 Americans aged 12 or older in 2001 drove while impaired from the effects of alcohol at least once during a year time span. The highest number of binge and heavy drinking in 2000 was for people who are 18 to 25 years old. Binge drinking has been defined as at least five drinks (one after the other) for men and four for women College students spend around $5 and a half billion dollars on alcohol each year,. Underage drinkers consume almost 20 percent of all the alcohol consumed in the United States, according to statistics from Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD).

“It doesn’t take more than a couple drinks for a 130 pound female to be under the influence,” Glinskas said.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for people from 15 to 20 years old, 29 percent of that age group killed in vehicle crashes had been under the influence of alcohol based on mortality data from MADD.

“Students need to make good decisions while they are sober. The goggles let the students see how it feels like when they are under the influence but since they are sober they are able to see the impairment,” she said.