Halloween had an extra measure of scary for many of the staff, students and parents of the Malad High School.  As buses and cars began making their way to the school on what seemed like an ordinary morning, they came on campus to see what looked to be a head-on collision between two cars on the roadway across from the high school, a truly terrifying site.

What most didn’t know was that the scene was a mock up, planned out by just a few of the school’s staff and student council,  bringing in the Oneida County Ambulance and Extrication, Oneida County Sheriff Department, Portneuf Air (compliments of Chesley Lewis), Nell J Redfield Memorial Hospital, and Eldon Dattage Towing.  As the school recognized Red Ribbon Week, a time dedicated to the awareness and prevention of substance abuse, the idea of utilizing the resources available in the community to allow people to experience the feelings of such an accident without actually suffering the loss took hold and a plan began to take shape.

Early Tuesday morning, the Sheriff Deputies blocked off the streets where two SUVs were staged in a head-on accident.  In one vehicle were four students with a variety of mock injuries ranging from possible spine injuries to lacerations and contusions to a broken femur.  In the other vehicle was a man that was driving under the influence, leading him to drive into the other lane and into oncoming traffic.  As in a real accident, after ensuring that he hadn’t received any injuries, deputies on the scene took the driver into custody, placing him in the back of a patrol vehicle to wait out the mock accident. 

From the moment of the dispatch, the emergency services treated the scene as if it were a true accident demonstrating for onlookers and even those hands-on, just what it would be like to experience such an accident.

First on scene were the students of the high school EMT class, using the opportunity to practice their skills as they assessed the scene and provided care to the patients.  The Oneida County Ambulance was then dispatched to the scene, taking over scene management, treatment, packaging and the transport of the injured patients.

Before being treated or removed from the car, the teen driver of the SUV had to wait as the EMS rescue crew extricated the car to finally gain access to them.  The sites and sounds of glass breaking, metal crushing and hinges breaking made the scene all the more real and sobering for the onlookers.  

 Just like in a real accident scene, life flight was dispatched to transport any patients with severe injuries to a facility with higher level of care for such trauma.  Local pilot for Portneuf Air, Chesley Lewis, landed his helicopter at the scene where one of the student patients was loaded in and transported.

 After the scene had been cleared and it seemed things were back to the normal routine, the students were gathered in for an assembly to further discuss the dangers of driving under the influence and distracted driving.  MHS principal, Mr. Michael Corbett, spoke of the 222 deaths in Idaho due to vehicle crashes, putting it in perspective as he pointed out that that number would include nearly every student of Malad High.

Oneida County Ambulance President, Kade Price, spoke of the number of accident fatalities that might not have happened if only they had been wearing a seatbelt. Price illustrated the point with photos of real accidents and victims that suffered fatal injuries after being partially or fully ejected from a crash.

Doug Williams of the Sheriff Department spoke of the devastating actions of drowsy driving, driving under the influence or driving distracted.  Anything that takes a driver’s focus away from the road is enough to cause an accident, whether it is changing the music on the radio, answering a text, or distracting passengers.

The final speakers of the assembly were Chris and Sarah Showell, parents that have had the awful experience of learning their son had died in an accident due to drowsy driving.  Many drivers might think they are “careful enough” or “it won’t happen to me” but the Showell’s experience teaches that the possibility of a life taking accident is very real for anyone to experience.

While the intention of the mock accident was to help teach and empower the MHS students to be safe and responsible drivers and passengers, it also serves as a reminder to everyone in the community.  Each person on the roadways of Oneida County has the opportunity and responsibility to keep them safe by not driving distracted, drowsy or under the influence and by always buckling up.