NBC News' Brian Thompson Films Impaired Driving Segment at West Orange HS

NBC News reporter Brian Thompson recently paid a visit to West Orange High School to film a segment on the effects of driving while intoxicated.

Thompson contacted the school early in the day on Monday, April 27, regarding filming at the school and using its driving simulator, which mimics regular driving, impaired driving and distracted driving scenarios, according to officials from West Orange Public Schools. The simulator also includes police stops and court hearings.

West Orange Principal Hayden Moore, District Supervisor of Health and Physical Education Kevin Alvine, and Brian Dillon, Driver’s Ed and Physical Education teacher, were on hand during the filming of the segment.

Thompson tried out both the impaired driving scenario and drunk driving goggles on the regular setting. According to a release from the school district, Thompson, who struggled to drive the simulator with the goggles on, said “I can’t see a thing.”

When trying out the impaired scenario, the NBC News reporter only made it to the first stop sign before getting stopped by police, according to the release from West Orange Public Schools.

Driver’s Ed instructor Dillon commented on how some students fared on the impaired setting. “Your reaction time slows down the more you drink, and the more impaired you get,” he said. “It takes just a split second of slowed reaction time for something to happen.”

Dillon also noted the affects drunk driving has on an individual. “Your reaction time slows down the more you drink, and the more impaired you get,” Dillon said. “It takes just a split second of slowed reaction time for something to happen.”

The driving simulator at West Orange High School was donated in memory of Nikhil Badlani, a sixth grade student at Edison Middle School in West Orange, who was killed in June 2011 after a distracted driver struck his family’s vehicle, school district officials said. He would have been completing his freshman year at West Orange High School.

(Photos courtesy of West Orange Public Schools)