PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Circuit Court hosts DUI Awareness Conference for teens

Released On 04/17/2002

Rolling Meadows, IL (04-17-02) – The Circuit Court of Cook County began hosting its annual prom season driving safety programs with a daylong DUI Awareness Conference in the Third Municipal District Courthouse in Rolling Meadows. Approximately 200 students representing twelve area schools attended the conference designed to educate students on the potential consequences of impaired and aggressive driving and other traffic related issues.

Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans said, "Annual pre-prom programs are part of the court's commitment to challenge students to drive safely. These programs provide vivid and heart-wrenching proof of the permanent consequences of reckless driving decisions."

Students heard victims speak first hand about the consequences of impaired driving during a Victim Impact Panel and participated in a presentation by the Illinois State Police on aggressive driving. The students also attended two thought-provoking workshops called Life and Death in the ER and Licensed for Life.

During the Life and Death in the ER workshop, a graphic presentation on the consequences of impaired driving is presented from the perspective of an emergency room nurse. In the Licensed for Life workshop, students use fatal vision goggles to simulate impairment while taking a field sobriety test.

"A young person dies in a traffic crash an average of once an hour," according to Judge James Etchingham, Chairman of the Third Municipal District Community Safety Initiatives Committee which organized the conference. "Moreover, the month of May is now the second deadliest month for alcohol related fatalities. These two facts moved us to conduct this program which educates our young people on the consequences of driving under the influence during prom season and everyday," Judge Etchingham said.

The DUI Awareness Conference was funded by a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration through the Illinois Department of Transportation, Division of Traffic Safety.