High School
Th!nk, Don’t Drink, Drug & Drive
This classroom program includes a portion of the video Smashed: Toxic Tales of Teens and Alcohol, a discussion on indicators of impairment, walk-the-line with the Fatal Vision™ impairment goggles, Q & A and a verbal quiz. It is currently taught in all three high school driver’s education classes.
The program is provided free-of-charge by IDIPIC thanks to many local Partners in Prevention. These partners include businesses, churches, organizations and individuals who believe “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” and that by working together we can have “safer kids, safer roads” which benefits us all.
In addition to this instruction, panel attendance is a requirement for all Whidbey driver’s education students and their parent by Munro’s Driving Instruction and the driving instructors at South Whidbey High School. Students not taught through a driving school are welcome to attend as well with parent. The instructor is JoAnn Hellmann, B.A., the director of IDIPIC and a long-time Whidbey Islander, who has worked with thousands of youth through IDIPIC in recent years. She is a retired Navy Chief trained in classroom instruction. More info on the panels can be seen under the heading PANELS on the home page.
IDIPIC also provides Choose To Be BuzzFree. This is a pre-prom/graduation safety event that can be held annually at each of the island’s high schools alone or in conjunction with other safety events (such as mock DUI crash or assembly on unsafe driving). Includes display table with brochures, posters and freebies and walk-the-line with Fatal Vision goggles. Patrol officer assists when available.
What are driving instructors saying about IDIPIC panels?
“We at Munros’ Driving Instruction, Inc. rely on JoAnn and her valuable program as superior way of a demonstrating first-hand, the consequences of DUI. The State of Washington Department of Licensing requires we cover Drugs and Alcohol as part of our 34 hours of classroom time and we feel that IDIPIC offers the best way to do that because it is done in such a way that it makes the greatest impact on our teenage drivers. You may never be able to directly measure the impact that a program like this has on society, but if such a program can prevent even one loss of life, there’s no price you can put on it.”
Veronica & Mike Munro (& panel observers)
“My job as Traffic Safety Instructor is to teach students skills to drive an automobile but more importantly my goal is to help inexperienced drivers develop good habits which hopefully lead to using sound judgment while making decisions on the road. After attending several panel presentations myself I agreed we must require all South Whidbey Traffic Safety Students to attend a panel (and later with parent) to earn their Traffic Safety Certificate. IDIPIC educates my students about the hazards and consequences of making a decision they may not live to regret, which is why it is an integral part of my curriculum.
John La Vassar / South Whidbey High School
