Local dealer donates car to police

Electric car will be used to teach teens the danger of drunk-driving.GLENDALE -- Police will soon be teaching local teens the dangers of drunk driving in their own electric car.

The City Council unanimously approved the donation of an alternative fuel vehicle from Glendale’s Star Auto Group Tuesday for use by the Police Department’s drunk driving simulation program.

The 2002 Global Electric Motor car, valued at $4,500, will be used for the department’s Student Knowledge Impaired Driving Simulation program, or SKIDS, which is designed to educate teen drivers on the dangers of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, Glendale Police Capt. Ray Edey said.

The program, which Glendale Police Sgt. Lewie Guay started four years ago, has students perform a number of tasks while wearing a pair of goggles that blur vision to simulate intoxication.

For students with a valid drivers license, one of those tasks is driving a small vehicle -- such as a golf cart -- through an obstacle course of cones.

“Throughout the life of the program, we’ve been borrowing vehicles from city agencies or car dealerships,” Edey said. “Now, we won’t need to beg and borrow.”

Before officials with the Star Auto Group came to the police department three months ago with the idea, the department was considering how to fund the purchase of a vehicle for the driving simulation program, he said.

“These vehicles cost between $7,000 and $10,000, so this is a really great opportunity for us,” he said. “And it’s really great timing.”

Annual operation costs for the vehicle are estimated at $600 for the first year and less than $400 every year thereafter, Edey said.

“It’s a great little around-town vehicle,” said Kenneth Lecheminant, general manager of Glendale’s Star Chrysler/Jeep dealership, which along with Glendale’s Star Ford and Glendale’s Lincoln/Mercury/Mazda makes up the Star Auto Group. “You just plug it in like a lamp and charge it up.”

The vehicle drives between 25 to 30 miles per hour and runs on six batteries that usually reap enough energy for a 35-mile drive, he said, adding that it is generally charged once a day.

“How could you turn your back on alternative gasoline power for anything,” Councilman Dave Weaver said. “And I think police are probably putting it to its best use.”

The car can be driven legally on the street in speed zones that do not surpass 35 miles per hour, and has all the gadgets of a regular car -- head lights and signal blinkers -- he said.

It is a good match for a program like Student Knowledge Impaired Driving Simulation, Weaver said.

“You don’t have the size of a full-size car, you don’t have emissions and you’re limited on speeds,” he said. “So you don’t have some kid stomping on the gas going 60 [miles per hour].”

* TANIA CHATILA covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at (818) 637-3232 or by e-mail at tania.chatila@

latimes.com.