{"id":10494,"date":"2026-08-19T20:02:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T20:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/?p=10494"},"modified":"2026-08-19T20:02:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T20:02:49","slug":"students-drive-drunk-on-the-quad-during-tupds-dont-drink-and-drive-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/2026\/08\/19\/students-drive-drunk-on-the-quad-during-tupds-dont-drink-and-drive-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"Students drive ‘drunk’ on the Quad during TUPD’s ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’ initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION<\/a>) \u2014 The Troy University\u00a0Police\u00a0Department<\/a>\u00a0(TUPD) partnered with the\u00a0Welcome Week\u00a0Committee<\/a> to teach students\u00a0the\u00a0dangers of driving under the influence.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TUPD placed students behind the wheel of a golf cart while wearing goggles that simulated being under the influence. The hope from this simulation is that students learned the importance of staying safe when they go out drinking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s just to give everybody an idea of how it is to drive drunk and show everybody that it’s not exactly safe to do,\u201d said TUPD Officer Dillan Schoggins. \u201cPeople have been running over cones all day, and we’re trying to get them to understand that they can go out and have a good time at night, but at the same time we’ve got to make sure we’re staying safe.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TUPD also offered field sobriety tests to students who wanted to see what would happen if they were pulled over. While some students described it as a fun experience, they also said they saw the lesson behind the simulation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LOCAL NEWS: Section of road along George Wallace Drive causes concern for drivers<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It\u2019s a fun activity but also a learning activity,\u201d said Ja\u2019Maiya Brooks, a freshman from Dothan, Alabama majoring in chemistry. \u201cIt’s good for everybody to actually notice what it’ll seem like if you’re driving drunk before people just be like, ‘ Oh, I’m fine; I can take like three shots, and I’ll be able to drive perfectly fine.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students who attempted the course could go multiple times, upping their \u201cintoxication\u201d level by changing their goggles or switching to cannabis goggles to see how they would do under the influence of the drug.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did good the first time,\u201d said Mackenzie Hayes, a sophomore majoring in nursing from Auburn, Alabama. \u201cI did it twice. The second time I hit a cone. I learned to never drunk drive and that I\u2019m not a pro at it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are out and need a designated driver to bring you back home, TUPD\u00a0offers all students a free ride home through its Choose Your Ride<\/a> program.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If you go outside to one of these bars around here or someone’s house and you have a little too much drink or maybe your DD is doesn’t exactly hold up their end of the bargain and ends up drinking you can call our non-emergency number, and we will come, pick you up and take you back to your dorm, apartment or wherever it is you live,\u201d Officer Schoggins said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration<\/a>, almost 12,000 people died from alcohol-impaired driving accidents in 2024.\u00a0Drunk driving is a dangerous practice that puts not only you in harm’s way but everyone else on the road. If\u00a0you’re\u00a0drinking,\u00a0either plan for\u00a0a designated driver\u00a0at the beginning of the night\u00a0or contact\u00a0TUPD\u00a0when you leave the bar to\u00a0utilize\u00a0their taxicab service for all students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) \u2014 The Troy University\u00a0Police\u00a0Department\u00a0(TUPD) partnered with the\u00a0Welcome Week\u00a0Committee to teach students\u00a0the\u00a0dangers of driving under the influence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

TUPD placed students behind the wheel of a golf cart while wearing goggles that simulated being under the influence. The hope from this simulation is that students learned the importance of staying safe when they go out drinking. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s just to give everybody an idea…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":10525,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1127],"tags":[3168,3169,3173,2228,2227,2225,2224,2226,3172,51,45,519,2698,1142,3170,1090,3171],"topics":[17],"class_list":["post-10494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news","tag-drunk-driving","tag-drunk-driving-simulator","tag-field-sobriety-test","tag-jimmy-nichols-anchor","tag-jimmy-nichols-reporter","tag-jimmy-nichols-troy-trojanvision-news","tag-jimmy-nichols-troy-university","tag-jimmy-nichols-tv","tag-sobriety","tag-troy","tag-troy-university","tag-troy-university-police","tag-troy-university-police-depart","tag-troy-university-police-department","tag-troy-university-police-dillan-schoggins","tag-tupd","tag-tupd-dillan-schoggins","topics-troy-campus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10494"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10524,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10494\/revisions\/10524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10494"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.troy.edu\/trojanvision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=10494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}