Accidents are the leading cause of death for teens aged 15-19. According to the CDC, an average of 32 people die every day because of impaired drivers, which equates to two deaths for every class period.
With the start of the 2024 Prom season, Students Against Destructive Decision (SADD) and the Oakville theater troupe decided to continue a tradition: setting up a mock car crash at Oakville’s campus.
“The mock car crash is an event that Student Against Destructive Decisions sponsors with the help of Officer Andrew, the Drama Troupe and the local fire and police departments,” SADD sponsor Olivia Novak said. “This is normally done around Prom to remind students to have fun, while remembering to be safe on the road.”
SADD used many techniques to recreate what a real drunk driving accident would look like, including using real totaled cars and members of the fire and police departments.
“The cars and the first responders really tie the event together,” Novak said. “But I think the actors and the real 911 call that is played during the event really help to make it more realistic. They did a great job with the makeup and the acting.”
The theater department spent the morning of the crash applying makeup to the actors and presented the crash in ANP.
“The purpose of the car crash was to put out awareness,” actor Drew Murphy (12) said, “of how badly one accident or one bad decision can create a whole storm that can cause chaos for your whole life.”
Many OHS students took a lot from this event.
“Drinking and driving is such a horrible decision, but it happens so much in today’s society,” Murphy said. “So we wanted to let [the students] know you shouldn’t let one stupid decision cause the end of your life.”
