With the North Schuylkill High School prom coming up this weekend, a “mock crash” was held on Monday as a reminder to students about the dangers of distracted and impaired driving.
Sponsored by North Schuylkill’s “Students Against Destructive Decisions” club, and with the assistance of multiple agencies from the area, a mock vehicle accident was set up in the corner of the lower parking lot at the high school. Students in grades 11 and 12, were on hand to watch the events unfold as they would if the accident had been real.
Emergency Responders arrived to the scene, including ambulance and fire rescue squads, along with local police to assess the situation.
The “mock accident” was set up to recreate an impaired driver situation. Police did field sobriety tests on the driver, while emergency squads worked to free the entrapped victims in the other vehicle. Once the victims were removed from the vehicle, the county coroner’s arrived on the scene for photographs and removal of the deceased victim.
Following the “mock crash”, students went into the auditorium for a short program led by SADD advisor, Lynn Minalda. Also speaking to the students were Schuylkill County Deputy Coroners David Truskowsky and Deb Detweiler, reminding students to have fun at the prom, but to make good choices so the fake accident scene that they had just witnessed does not become a reality. They talked about the dangers of not only impaired driving, but also avoiding distractions such as texting while on the roadways.
North Schuylkill School District would like to thank the following agencies for their participation in this week’s mock accident: Butler Township Police Department, Friendship Fire Company (Englewood); Goodwill Fire Company (Frackville); Lavelle Fire Company; Washington Ambulance; Washington Fire Company Rescue; Schuylkill County Deputy Coroners David Truskowsky and Deb Detweiler; Spartan Fire and Rescue; and North Schuylkill Students Against Destructive Decisions. Thank you to students Doug Weist and Leanna Gregas, who played injured crash victims, and also to Cody Wagner , who played the role of the impaired driver.
