by Barbara Stinson Lee
Intermountain Catholic

DRAPER — The head-on collision between a car carrying two teenagers and another car carrying a mother and her daughter was not real. Produced by Juan Diego Catholic High School’s chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) and the school’s television production class, the accident and the events that led up to it were broadcast into every classroom at Juan Diego Catholic High School. The Draper City Police and Unified Fire Department arrived at the school with lights and sirens blazing. They treated the exercise as if it were real.

The story began as a mother tried to instill some wisdom into her teen-age son before he and his date set out for “Prom Night.” He assured his mother that his behavior would be above reproach.

But reality was very different. Viewers in each classroom watched the young people party; drinking to extreme with friends. They knew no limits and their behavior became more wild and dangerous.

The result was the head-on collision in the school’s west parking lot. As a police officer draped the young man’s date’s (played by Kelli Lawrence) lifeless body with a sheet, two other officers performed a field sobriety te st on the young driver (played by Michael Torres).

Meanwhile, Unified Fire staff worked to extricate the mother and daughter from their wrecked car to be taken to a local hospital.

In the classrooms, the students watched it all. They watched as the mother of the dead girl arrived on the scene and realized that her life just changed forever.

Kelly John, portraying a television reporter who happened on the scene, tried her best to report the accident fairly through all the torment and tragedy. She interviewed police officers and fire department personnel, all the time trying to keep up with the action going on around here.

Not only did this portrayal emphasize the dangers of driving while drunk, it clearly showed the length of time it takes to perform difficult extractions from vehicles when the people trapped are in pain, confused, and frightened.

The exercise was performed by everyone involved from the students to the fire and police personnel with the greatest seriousness.

“This is a better way to present the message of the dangers of driving drunk,” said Miguel Mendoza, a junior at Juan Diego. “Sometimes they just hand out pamphlets that address the dangers of drinking and driving. But this was better. It was dramatic.”