Students from nine area Richland county schools observed the 25th annual mock crash safety docudrama Thursday morning.
“When you’re through here today, there will be more than 39,000 kids who have seen this program right here at the Richland County fairgrounds,” said Judy Villard Overocker, OSU-extension and director/ producer of the mock crash program. “We want to share the message of safe driving throughout the Richland county community. It takes the entire community to build a safe and productive environment.”
Research shows that the leading cause of death for teenagers is by a motor vehicle accident, Overocker said. Causing contributors to the car crash can be anything from drug and alcohol use/abuse to distracted driving.
The mock-crash scene opened to the students listening to a recorded voice describing the teenagers involved in the crash. One was a young teenaged mother named, “Caroline” and the others were a group of friends. “They’re all celebrating a night out at the end of the school year,” the recorded voice said. “They are teens hoping and planning for their future just like you.”
As the crash happened, the teenaged mother was driving with her boyfriend to drop off their young daughter with a babysitter before prom. A group of six teenagers, also headed to the prom, piled in a five passenger car, while drinking alcohol and popping prescription pills. As the combination of teenage drivers, drugs and alcohol almost never mix well, there was a tragic crash in which several teens were hurt and one person tragically lost their life.
“What you have seen today, of course, is a reenactment,” said Richland county Juvenile court Judge Ron Spon. “This reenactment is actually a tragedy for so many people across America every year.”
Spon recalled a high school classmate who was involved in a drunk driving accident, who fortunately did not lose their life but was severely injured by fire. “He was not the person that I knew beforehand, I could hardly recognize again after the accident,” he said.
To have survived such a terrible incident, Spon said, his friend was grateful.
“But what he had to live with after that was also very difficult for him,” he said. “All because there was drinking and driving involved in the operation of a motor vehicle.”
Spon told the students that such tragedies can be avoided when speeding, drugs and alcohol are avoided and they commit to being responsible drivers.
If the students happen to choose to make the wrong choice, Spon reminded them that there are consequences for their actions by way of the judicial system.
“They show up at my court or even in the adult court to be held accountable,” the judge said. “Legally they can lose their license for many years, there are fines and they could even go to jail or prison for a number of years – because a person needlessly caused a great tragedy because of one’s use of drugs or alcohol.”
Individual students representing the various schools then stood before the crowd, each holding a black flower.
“From the time the first person out of this group got on the bus today, until the last person gets off of the bus back at the school, this is the number of people that will have been killed, in this country, by impaired drivers,” Overocker said. “Count them, there are seven.”
Overocker encouraged the students to make good choices but reminded them, “It only takes one bad choice to take a life – maybe yours, maybe a loved one, or maybe even someone that you don’t know. We hope that when you leave here today you’ll remember to be a safe driver.”
As students left the grandstand, headed back to their respective school busses, they walked past Caroline’s “funeral.” A casket with her picture sat in a covered tent the parking lot with family members mourning the loss of their beloved one too soon.
“Remember, that can happen to you or someone you love,” Overocker said.
Ontario High School students Brigitte Meisse, 17, Katie Earhart, 17, and Kennedie Spencer, 16, said they enjoyed participating in the mock crash. One thing the girls wanted their peers to take away from the mock crash was, “just remember anything can happen that fast,” Meisse said.
“One bad decision could change everything,” Spencer said.
The mock crash was presented by the Richland County 4-H Youth Safety Council and the Richland County Mock crash coalition. The Mansfield Fire Department and Rescue, the Mansfield Police Department, MedFlight, the Ohio State Patrol, Mansfield post, the Richland County Sheriff’s office, and others helped with presenting the mock crash and many others also helped to sponsor the program.
“We want to share the message of safe driving throughout the Richland county community. It takes the entire community to build a safe and productive environment,” said Judy Villard Overocker.
