See for yourself: Merc’s ‘alcohol goggles’ simulate dangers of drunk driving

How is it that your vision gets affected when you are drunk? And how will it feel if your car crashes even as you have your seat belts on?

To give a feel of such experiences to car drivers and create awareness on road safety, German car-maker Mercedes Benz is introducing ‘unique’ products in India such as belt-slide, airbags and alcohol goggles.

Many of these products have been brought in from Germany and provide real life experience of safety measures that can potentially save lives on Indian roads.

The alcohol goggles, for instance, simulate the common ‘walk the line’ activity that causes loss of balance and delayed reaction time.

So, the goggles wearer will feel susceptible to impairments and realise the possible severe consequences due to alcohol consumption.

Similarly, the belt-slide exhibit enables visitors to experience the impact of seat belts in a simulated crash environment at low speed.

“We have got exhibits to create awareness, which can contribute 50-60 per cent to the reduction of major mishaps with a certain section of the public,” Manu Saale, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mercedez Benz Research and Development, told BusinessLine .

Mercedez Benz is doing this as a part of their corporate social responsibility activity. India has 1.37 lakh deaths due to road accidents.

“We are trying to reach out to universities, to the younger folk that are willing to learn in Ahmedabad, Pune, Bengaluru and Chennai,” Saale said.

According to a sample study, in 50 per cent of road accidents, there were no accident avoidance steps from the drivers.

Only in 30 per cent of the accidents did the drivers apply a brake or swerve or used a combination of both.

Also, the percentage of seat belts worn by car drivers and front passengers is as low as 16 per cent in India, said the survey, which did not mention the sample size.

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