LACEY – The Ocean County Intoxicated Driver Resource Center partnered with Lacey High School students to produce a video showing the negative effects of teen drinking.
In the video, “Drinking Destroys Dreams,” a high school senior decides to have a drink on her way to her prom, and winds up getting pulled over.
“My whole life was ahead of me, until I decided to have a drink…” she says in narration.
The video flashes between what could have been: footage of teenagers getting ready for prom, and what happened: getting arrested, her car towed, put in jail, and appearing before the judge. It also shows how much one night of excess cost her financially.
The video is one part of a larger effort to educate youths against drinking, to prevent issues before they happen, said Peter Curatolo, chief of administrative services for the Ocean County Health Department and the mayor of Lacey. The video will be shown in driver education classes.
“We wanted to illustrate the legal process from arrest and conviction to the mandatory Intoxicated Driver Resource Center class that takes place when a person makes one bad decision and doesn’t plan ahead,” he said. “The goal is to save a life and secondly, to avoid a conviction for a DUI.”
He credited the creativity and talent of the high school students who produced the video, as well as the police, judge, and towing company that appeared in it.
