Innovative suit demonstrates dangers of drinking and driving

Watch above: Members of the media dressed in a special suit that helps demonstrate the dangers of drinking and driving.

SASKATOON – With Halloween in the rear view mirror, the holiday season is fast approaching. Yuletide festivities are starting up and along with the good times come the dangers of drinking and driving.

An innovative display in Saskatoon Monday aimed to demonstrate that point.

Saskatoon RCMP Cst. Elmer Russell has been on the force for 14 years, the last 12 in traffic services. He’s seen his fair share of impaired drivers.

“You don’t have the same control, you don’t have the same ability, you don’t have the same thinking process,” said Russell, who was conducting simulated road-side sobriety tests with people wearing an innovative drunk driving suit.

“This disorients you, it throws off your vision, your sense of balance, it starts to inhibit a lot of your sensory perceptions like your hearing and your ability to walk,” said Russell.

The suit, designed by Ford Motor Company and a German company, has been travelling around North America since the middle of summer to demonstrate the dangers to drivers.

There is an ankle weight, two knee, two elbow and a neck brace along with two wrist weights. Combine those with noise cancelling headphones and goggles and the result is the same as getting behind the wheel drunk.

“We can laugh and joke about it in a setting like this but I think once you try it on you get the full effect of how scary it would be to be behind the wheel or riding with someone that was suffering from those effects,” said Colin Anderson, Merlin Ford Lincoln general sales manager.

According to Russell, drinking and driving continues to be the number one focus, with over 1,250 alcohol-related collisions resulting in almost 40 deaths last year in the province.

“I’m 44-years-old, they’ve been talking about the effects of drunk driving since I was a teenager and they’re still talking about them today because the message just isn’t getting out there,” said Anderson.

While it’s a 365 day, 24/7 fight, police enforcement will increase as the holiday season approaches.

The hope is with the awareness the suit brings, that one day people will finally get the message.