A Sobering Lesson on Drinking and Driving

Blood, mangled cars and the covered bodies of two dead students.

That was the scene at Aliso Niguel High School on Thursday as the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, with help from other emergency organizations, staged a dramatic drunk-driving accident to remind students of the dangers of drinking and driving as prom, party and graduation season gets underway.

In the simulated accident, two cars carrying six teens crashed after several of them had been drinking. The bloody victims, portrayed by Aliso Niguel drama students, had been thrown through the windows or were trapped inside the cars.

Emergency crews used the Jaws of Life and other rescue tools to free the students. Three went to the hospital, and two others died at the scene.

The one unhurt student was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving and led away in handcuffs to the cheers of the student body.

“It kind of makes you think twice,” said junior Rebecca Burchett.

Sheriff’s Deputy Jim Avant ,who organized the event, said he hoped the graphic demonstration would save lives.

“We want to show them a little touch of reality,” Avant said. “We had people dying in front of the students.”

In 1995 in Orange County, there were 53 alcohol-involved fatalities and 2,622 injuries, according to the county chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which was part of the community partnership that put on the staged event.

The message that alcohol and vehicles don’t mix left a lasting impression with many students.

“I think it was really good,” senior Danielle Vernengo, who played a bloodied victim, said of the mock disaster. “It scares me that things like this really happen.”