By CARLOS FERRAND
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
If you drink and drive, Office Joel Zulaica advises, “You have two choices: Get a designated driver or cab to get home, or take your chances. If we pick you up, you’re not going home.”
The Human Services Club invited the Central San Antonio Fear Free Environment unit to bring out the cop cab, BAT van and beer goggles Wednesday in the mall.
Cop cab is a vehicle that looks like a police squad car in the front and a taxicab in the back. Cop cab helps illustrate the two choices a person has after a night of drinking.
The BAT van is a mobile breath-alcohol testing vehicle you might see if you made a poor choice.
The SAFFE unit promotes one choice: refuse to drive under the influence. Zulacia said someone’s first DWI could cost $10,000 to $15,000. “You might get your license suspended and may not be able to get it back. Can you afford that?”
The SAFFE unit’s priority is to educate every person on the realities of drinking under the influence. “The legal blood alcohol level while driving is .08 for someone 21 and up. For a person under 21, any detectable amount of alcohol is a crime.”
Texas is a zero-tolerance state for underage drinking.
Of more than 50 officers on patrol each weekend, Zulaica said, every single officer makes at least one arrest.
Students were invited to try walking nine steps in a straight line in beer goggles designed to simulate blood alcohol content double the legal limit.
Architecture sophomore Samantha Castillo could barely stand once the goggles went on. “I couldn’t keep my balance. I tried so hard, but it felt like someone was pushing me,” she said.
The SAFFE unit encourages students to make the correct choice or be prepared for the consciences. “We understand that people are going to go out and have couple of drinks, but we don’t want them getting behind the wheel,” he said.
For more information, email joel.zulacia@sanantonio.gov
