Fake Crash Is Sobering Lesson for Teen-Agers

Sixteen-year-old Michelle Robinson was slumped behind the wheel of the gnarled Buick, blood dribbling down her limp left arm. The only problem was she couldn’t keep a straight face.

“Don’t laugh,” shouted one of her classmates gathered on the front steps of San Dimas High School. “You better look sad. You’re supposed to be dying.”

Giggles gave way to somber reflection last week as San Dimas students received a sobering lesson on the dangers of drinking and driving.

On Friday, the day before the senior prom, the school’s chapter of Students Against Drunk Driving staged a “multi-victim/fatality accident” on the campus, complete with wrecked cars, paramedics, sirens and fake blood.

Laughter “is just the kids’ way of handling this,” explained business teacher Ethel Ripley, the faculty adviser for SADD. “It lightens things up . . . because, inside, they realize it could happen to them.”

The simulation began shortly after 9 a.m., as Sander’s Tow Service placed two twisted chassis--their windshields shattered and engines scrambled--in a head-on-crash configuration.

“Oh, my God, it smells,” squealed one of the “victims,” as she prepared to take her position in the back seat.

“At least mine has tinted windows,” boasted another.

Two patrol cars driven by sheriff’s deputies arrived, their sirens wailing and lights flashing. One approached the car supposedly driven by Michelle. Beer cans and a wine bottle tumbled out when the officer opened her door.

Paramedics from county Fire Station No. 64 supplied bandages, neck braces, simulated intravenous infusions and a plastic sheet to cover the one “fatality.”

“Check it out, dude,” said one student, as the bodies were placed on gurneys and wheeled to waiting ambulances. “Dead and deceased.”

The dead girl’s parents, played by two other SADD members, gripped each other in a tearful embrace.

School administrators credited the simulated crash with keeping the realities of drunken driving fresh in students’ heads.

On Monday, after a night of merriment at the Balboa Pavilion in Newport Beach, everyone arrived for class with a clean bill of health, Principal Colleen Gaynes said.

“Kids try to act cool,” said Chris Thomas, 17, after watching the staged accident Friday. “But they realize that the kids in those cars could be them.”