Naval Station Everett hosted the Save a Life Tour (SALT) Monday and Tuesday to remind Sailors of the hazards of drunk driving.

The tour, complete with graphic posters and a coffin on display to show where a drunk driver or innocent bystander can wind up, took participants through a brief about driving while drunk and gave them a turn on a 2.5 million dollar simulator, which showed first-hand how alcohol impairs driving. 

Under a banner that stated, “Drunk Driving Kills,” Andrew Tipton, SALT associate/manager-in-training, provided groups with facts about how quickly alcohol impairs a driver.

“Your peripheral vision shrinks 10 percent after one beer,” he said.  “After one drink, a cop can tell if you’ve been drinking.”

The fully-functioning car simulator took participants through 11 levels of drunk driving, 11 being the most difficult and impaired.  The levels change every 30 seconds so participants get the full affect of driving while drunk.

“When you drink, you lose your multitasking abilities and have delayed reaction times,” Tipton, whose sister was killed by a drunk driver, said.  “You get tunnel vision and are a 2,000-pound bullet driving down the street.”

Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Jaron Franck, a student at the Center for Information Dominance (CID) at NAVSTA Everett, said the simulator really gave participants something to think about.

“It’s tough.  It’s meant for you to mess up to show you how drunk driving affects you,” he said.  “The whole program makes you really want to rethink things when you’re driving.”

Information Systems Technician 1st Class (SW/AW) Chad Wolf, a CID instructor, hopes his students will take away knowledge from the experience.

“Hopefully, they’ll get some more reinforcement as to not drink and drive.  They’ll see how hard and unsafe it is to actually do.”

Chief Damage Controlman (SW) Richard Devlin, Naval Station Everett’s Command Drug and Alcohol Program Advisor, wants Sailors to understand and get by all the myths about drinking and driving.

“Statistically, the base has one DUI a year,” Devlin said.  “That’s one too many.  We want to stamp out drunk driving altogether.”

SALT will be at Naval Hospital Bremerton June 22 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Naval Base Kitsap Bremerton June 23 and 24 at the old gym from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Naval Base Kitsap Bangor June 25 and 26 at Bangor Plaza from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.