The scene was so realistic, you could hear people screaming, sirens blaring and a father of an impaired driver who caused a head-on, fatal crash, yelling at deputies who struggled to restrain him.
Fortunately, it was the 2024 Mock Crash Safety Docu-Drama at the Richland County Fairgrounds Tuesday morning and no one was actually physically hurt as a semitractor-trailer drove away unveiling the scene of two mangled vehicles, and soon, a young teen girl laying on the ground outside the car covered by a white sheet posing as a fatality victim.
It was all make-believe, but the message was deadly serious as 240 students from Clear Fork and Plymouth high schools attended the event.
Drugs and alcohol and driving don't mix.
This story was the underlying message of the 2024 Richland County 4-H Youth Safety Council mock crash safety docu-drama program, said Judy Villard-Overocker, of the Richland County Ohio State University Extension Office.
Every year the high spirits of spring, including prom, and the conclusion of the school year end in disaster when young people are killed or severely injured in a crash, she said.
Five years since the last program, Villard-Overocker said some school districts had testing and could not come to the event. Other districts have cut out field trips due to budget constraints.
Richland County Juvenile Court Judge Steve McKinley told students about the impact of choices, with youths drinking and driving and using drugs and driving and others driving at high rates of speed without caring or thinking.
He reminded them to think about the impact that their choices have on others.
What gets in the way?
Drugs and alcohol bring a significant number of young people to court, he told the teens seated in the grandstands.
"These are problems being created by not caring or not thinking," McKinley said.
Using the example of a surgeon operating on one of them using a scalpel with one hand and a cell phone in the other hand, McKinley talked about distracted driving and how bad choices could be prevented to save human lives. Or, he said a waiter taking an order and also being on his cell phone can result in a mistake in the order.
"The consequences of a wrong order aren't significant," he said. "But the consequences of a death, that's something that can't be undone. I want you to think about the fact that bad driving places the burden on family. It also perhaps can result in a suspended license which can be expensive with insurance."
Villard-Overocker said that the Richland County 4-H Youth Safety Council students have done the program for 43,000 students to date.
"The message is no different. We're here to help you save your life, reduce your injury and make better choices," she said. "You have a wonderful life to live and you have so many things to do," she said. "We're here to remind you. Make a good decision because it's all about you. It's not about the other guy. It's all about you. If you make good decisions and other people make good decisions we can all live a long time."
Villard-Overocker thanked all the people who helped make the docu-drama a success including first responders Mansfield post of the Highway Patrol, Richland County Sheriff's Office, Mansfield Fire Department, Wappner Funeral Directors, the Richland County Coroner's Office, Nyte Flyte which provided the audio, the agricultural society and all of the actors in the scenario.
Villard-Overocker said the mock crash will be back next year as students were dismissed.
lwhitmir@gannett.com
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mock Crash Message to Teens: Make good choices before getting behind the wheel
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