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Sending a Message About DUI’s Deadly Consequences
"How many of you plan on having a drink in the next few weeks?" McDaniel opens his Drinking and Driving Safety Presentation. Hands go up. "Who intends to have more than one? Who intends to get drunk?” he continues as the audience chuckles. “Who intends to have too much to drink and then get behind the wheel of a car and kill their passengers, or themselves, or maybe some strangers in another car?" Every hand falls as McDaniel makes his point that no one intends to drink too much and then get into a vehicle and have a serious accident.
McDaniel uses a unique blend of magic, comedy and hypnosis to drive home a powerful message about the hazards of driving while under the influence of alcohol – and the deadly consequences. With some jokes and magic tricks, McDaniel builds rapport with the audience prior to explaining what hypnosis is and how it works. Soon, several eager volunteers are on stage and ready to assist with the presentation. McDaniel entertains the audience with the subjects' willing responses to to suggestions they are hot, then cold, four years old, a famous singing group, forgetting their own name, etc. Finally, he offers them a very powerful drink of alcohol which gets them ‘drunk’ very quickly. The audience continues to laugh as the volunteers display familiar drunken behavior such as slurring words and losing their balance.
The presentation takes a somber turn when the wobbly subjects hop in a “car” to head to another party, and soon one of them believes for a few moments that he or she has crashed the car and killed their passengers. The driver's authentic emotions and tearful remorse drive home a point that cannot be made short of experiencing an actual fatality. The auditorium grows so silent you could hear a pin drop.
The tense moments are over quickly as McDaniel reassures the volunteers, they were simply participating in skits to ensure the success of the presentation. He reminds the audience that less than an hour before, not a single hand went up when he asked who planned to get drunk, get behind the wheel of a car and take a life.
The audience leaves talking at length about the presentation and it comes up again and remains engrained with each discussion as they discuss on the fun antics that took place, but always circle around to the reason for the presentation – “Don’t drink drive.”
McDaniel developed this presentation specifically for the young men and women of our fighting forces. Having sat through 23 years of mandatory safety training, he is more than aware how few actually made an impact. His presentation is effective because it shows first-hand the results of poor decision making that leads to driving while intoxicated."