Sobering message for students

EMERGENCY personnel remove the car roof to free the ‘drunk driver’, watched by Te Awamutu College students and staff. TC161008CA01

BY CATHY ASPLIN

Three female flatmates and a infant who were travelling together are dead following a head-on crash on Tuesday.

A male who was the sole occupant of the second car was trapped in the vehicle until emergency services could free him using the ‘jaws of life’. He suffered severe spinal injuries and blood tests confirmed the driver had been drinking. Investigators say he was travelling at least 20km/hr over the open road limit before crossing the centre line and ploughing into the other vehicle.

One of the female passengers in the car hit was thrown out on impact, killing her instantly. A second was thrown sideways and flew out of the door as it gave way. Her left leg was severed by a piece of sharp metal. The female driver received a gash to the neck which resulted in fatal blood loss. Her baby daughter was in a car seat, but this did not stop her being violently ejected, finally coming to rest on the back of the car.

SADD SCENARIO

This could easily be a report in any newspaper around the country. Thankfully in this case it is simply a scenario that was set up by the Te Awamutu College SADD (Students Against Driving Drunk) committee.

Committee member Leah Emmett says the purpose of the demonstration was to show the effects of a crash caused by someone who had been drinking alcohol before driving.

‘‘It took some time to organise and we had lots of help to stage the event and make it realistic. The people involved in the crash are all SADD members and had their ‘injuries’ created with the use of make-up by St John. Two cars were set up to look like a crash had occurred and Police supplied us with cordon tape to barricade off the area so that there were no issues with students getting too close.

‘‘Fire brigade, St John and Police arrived at 1.30pm and treated it as a training exercise, while WDC staff helped organise Health and Safety issues. We even talked to our school counsellor in case there was a possibility of students being emotionally affected by the event.

‘‘While this was only a made-up situation, we also decided to show the possible effects of a drunk driver crash after the event. For the rest of the week the members of our SADD Committee who took part in the demonstration will be wearing black clothes as a symbol of their death.

‘‘The male driver will be in a wheelchair to show that even though he survived, his life has been made extremely difficult as a result.’’