SAFETY : Mock Accident Shows Students the Pain of DUI

A staged auto accident in front of San Dimas High School met with mixed reactions from some of the juniors and seniors it was supposed to impress.

Yet, the elaborate demonstration April 27 seemed to work.

None of the 350 students who attended the school’s annual prom in Long Beach on Saturday were involved in alcohol-related accidents before or after the event, school officials said.

Some students said demonstrations such as the one staged last week by the school’s Students Against Drunk Driving chapter, county firefighters and deputies with the Walnut/San Dimas Sheriff’s Station will have no impact on some students.

Others, however, said the mock car accident could only help teen-agers consider the dangers of drinking and driving.

Some students “take everything for granted and they think this won’t happen to them,” junior Cara Cloutman said of some of her fellow students. “This is going to make them face reality.”

Officials parked two cars that had been demolished in actual drunk-driving accidents nose to nose. Students played out the roles of drivers and passengers--complete with fake blood and feigned injuries. Emergency crews played themselves.

Senior Tony Huang played the inebriated driver of one of the cars. As firefighters and paramedics attended to the dead and injured passengers, sheriff’s deputies put Huang through a mock field-sobriety test.

The intent of the demonstration, said event coordinator Deputy Ella Cooks, was to give students an idea of the consequences of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

San Dimas is the only high school in Southern California to use demonstrations such as this to drive home the importance of staying sober behind the wheel, Cooks said.

Thursday’s demonstration was the third such show in the eight years of the school’s Students Against Drunk Driving program, said school counselor Ethel Ripley.

So far, Ripley said, there have been no alcohol-related accidents involving San Dimas High School students on prom night.

“This always leaves an impression on some of the students,” Ripley said. “But we can’t get to all of them, unfortunately.”