It is a fanciful time of year for teenagers. They are anticipating proms, Junior-Senior weekend and graduation.

Members of the business community, schools and law enforcement agencies gave West Craven High School juniors and seniors a primer on how it feels to drive drunk and the consequences of drunk driving.

The Craven County Farm Bureau provided the drunken driving reenactment. Jason Jones, president of the board said the bureau bought the fatal goggles.

Students drove golf carts through orange cones once sober then once with the goggles which ranged in blood alcohol level from .07 to .22.

The students knocked down the cones and some cones were caught under the golf cart.

"That's a person you hit," said Farm Bureau liaison representative Juanita Jones.

Senior student Charnell Gatlen said the experience was fun. "I learned not to drink and drive. I never drank and drove a car. I'm too young to die. I can't end my life now," Gatlen said.

Craven County Sheriff's deputy Sgt. F.E. Pruitt was riding with students in one of the golf carts.

"I was trained with these goggles, but I sure can't drive or walk properly with these goggles and the students sure can't," Pruitt said.

Highway Patrol Trooper J.S. Collins from Greenville's highway safety division was with students in another cart.

"This is a great thing to teach kids how it feels to be in an altered state of mind. Most of them will realize how difficult and dangerous it is to drive drunk," he said.

"Nothing was in its right place. I would never drive drunk," said Deandre Hicks, a junior, after driving the cart with the fatal goggles.

School resource officer Cpl. John Clay said he had been planning the afternoon event called Ghost Out for several weeks.

As students assembled in the yard outside the cafeteria, they heard a crash then saw two smashed up car, courtesy of Crawford Automotive. They also saw Vanceboro and James City fire and rescue vehicles, the highway patrol, EastCare and sheriff's deputies at the scene of the mock crash.

With a loud speaker, they heard the voice of the person killed in the crash. He was trying to be seen, he wanted his family and friends.

No one could see him, because he was dead.

"We wanted the students to see that it is not only them but others who feel the effect of a drunk driver. If they learn one thing from this event, it's don't drink and drive," Clay said.

Francine Sawyer can be contacted at (252) 635-5671 or fsawyer@freedomenc.com.

Cold hard facts

•During the past four years, 554 teenagers were killed in crashes investigated by the State Highway Patrol.

•In 2005, the Patrol arrested more than 2,178 impaired drivers age 20 and under.

•Each year in the United States, an average of 2.5 gallons of hard liquor, three gallons of wine and 33 gallons of beer is consumed per person.