By Theresa Roach
Flint Journal
Copyright 2007 Flint Journal
All Rights Reserved
GRAND BLANC, Mich. — A crash in the Grand Blanc High School West Campus parking lot allowed students to learn what it means to be the victim of drunken driving.
Luckily, the accident Wednesday was not real. Students witnessed a mock drunken driving collision in front of their school.
“This was an interest of mine after seeing other high schools do it. I thought it’d be great for us to have since we have students interested in being EMS,” said teacher Marcia Gauthier, who organized the mock collision.
Fake crash meant to teach a lesson; Mich. teens learn perils of drunken driving
“I approached the Grand Blanc Fire Department, and they took it from there.”
Hundreds of students walked to the gymnasium of Grand Blanc High School West from the east campus of the high school.
The students listened to Mississippi State Police Officer Pete Collins tell stories about his job and the drunken driving wrecks he has witnessed.
After the speech, the students went to the parking lot.
A rolled minivan and a pickup truck were displayed. Victims shouted from the windows while the mock drunken driver sat in the front seat of the pickup truck, unfazed. One victim had been thrown from the vehicle and was pronounced dead by the paramedics.
“We do this to show the realism and put an impression on the students. We can’t stop them from drinking, but we want to limit the alcohol intake and drinking and getting behind the wheel,” said Joe Karlichek, an employee of the Genesys EMS Education Department.
Firefighters and police officers rushed onto the scene, lights flashing and sirens wailing. The officers and firefighters worked as if it were a real collision.
Students from Gauthier’s medical occupational class volunteered to act in the mock disaster.
The students screamed and frantically dialed cellphones as police told them to keep back. Other volunteers played the roles of victims or upset family members.
The school received a service learning grant and donations from Davison Auto Salvage, Kroger, Great Harvest in Grand Blanc, AAA and General Motors.
The school worked with Grand Blanc fire and police departments, Swartz Ambulance Service, Genesys Emergency Medical Services and Covenant HealthCare in Saginaw to produce the fake scenario.
A medical helicopter hovers above a mock crash scene in the parking lot of the Grand Blanc High School West Campus on Wednesday. The exercise was staged to convey the dangers of drunken driving.