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Alcohol Awareness, Distracted Driving Month Celebrated at MCD

April 26, 2018 -- The City of Houston Municipal Courts Department (MCD) will host the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Talk. Text. Crash. Simulator at the Herbert W. Gee Municipal Courthouse located in Downtown Houston on Thursday, April 26, 2018, from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. in observance of April as both Alcohol Awareness and Distracted Driving Month. The public is invited to take advantage of this free educational program.

“This public safety program is designed to help educate drivers about the new law which prohibits texting while driving, as well as to help them better understand the dangers and consequences of driving while intoxicated,” stated the Honorable J. Elaine Marshall, Director and Presiding Judge of the Municipal Courts Department.

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Talk. Text. Crash. Simulator is a grant-funded program offered through the State Farm Insurance Company.  The distracted driving simulator is specifically designed to give Texans a hands-on opportunity to experience the dangers of distracted driving, especially texting and driving.  A driving simulator equipped with a steering wheel, gas pedal and brake will allow a person to simulate driving in a safe video game atmosphere. From a large video screen, participants view obstacles and hazards which simulate those that one might encounter while driving. The desired outcome is that users learn that texting and driving do not mix.

The Houston Police Department Traffic Enforcement DWI Taskforce will also attend the event. They will offer an opportunity to try on Fatal Vision© goggles, which duplicate the effect of alcohol on one’s vision and mimics alcohol impairment while the person remains safely onsite at the courthouse. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D.), another public safety advocate, will also attend along with representatives from MCD’s Juvenile Case Manager Program.

The event takes place in the first-floor lobby of the Courthouse, located at 1400 Lubbock.

For more information about the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Talk. Text. Crash. Simulator, call 979-862-4658.  For more information about the City of Houston Municipal Courts, visit their website at www.houstontx.gov/courts.