Mock DWI Crash at Athena High School
April 27, 2007
Did you know that alcohol is the number one drug of choice among teens in America? In fact, alcohol kills more young people than all illicit drugs combined! In 2005, there were 6,100 youths (ages 15-20) that were killed in traffic crashes. Of those, 2,035 (33%) died in crashes involving alcohol – an average of 6 deaths every day. During prom season, these statistics are even higher than during the rest of the year.
With these facts in mind, the North Greece Fire District teamed up with Athena High School to stage a mock DWI crash for the junior and senior class students. The stage was set in the Athena parking lot with two cars that were apparently involved in a head-on collision. When the tarps that were covering the vehicles were removed, the students in the audience were presented with a scene where five of their peers were involved in the crash. One of the female students was presented as being dead on the hood of a car, having been ejected through the front windshield. The remaining four had apparently sustained various injuries.
Moments after the crash was revealed to the students, the fire trucks, ambulance and police rolled on to the scene. The Greece Volunteer Ambulance and NGFD firefighters began treating the patients and confirmed the one victim as a fatality. The Greece Police performed a field sobriety test on the suspected drunk driver. After he failed the test, he was cuffed and placed in the backseat of the patrol car for the remainder of the demonstration. Two patients had to be extricated from the car by having the firefighters remove the roof of their vehicle and were then placed in the ambulance. The Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office then came in and supervised the removal of the body from the hood of the vehicle. The scene ended with the fatal victim being placed in a body bag and wheeled into the ME’s truck and taken away while the students looked on.
The goals of this demonstration were to present the reality of what could happen when a student, or anybody, drinks & drives; to open dialogue between adults and students about drinking & driving right before the junior prom & senior ball; and to set the stage for a program called “Every 15 Minutes” that was presented at the school on the following Wednesday. Though we may never know if the ultimate purpose of this presentation was fulfilled, our hope is that it will have created a lasting impression on underage students to make the right, responsible decision.
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