Students participate in simulated DUI crash
Exercises at RBR promote positive choices on prom weekend

A"victim" is extricated from a car during a drunken-driving simulation.

LITTLE SILVER - During the week leading up to the Red Bank Regional High School's (RBR) senior prom on June 6, the school provided many opportunities for students to think about the important choices they face in celebrating this momentous occasion, notoriously the deadliest season for young people who choose to drink and drive.

On June 2, area police cars, fire trucks, ambulances and the state police Northstar division helicopter converged on the RBR campus for a three-car crash simulation of a drunk driving accident.

Additional dramatic impact was provided by the John E. Day Funeral Home staff, who brought their hearse to ferry away the DOA victim. Staff volunteers played the victims.

Director of Personnel Services Lenore Kingsmore reprised her role as a seriously injured victim requiring medi-vac services. She was covered by a sheet inside the vehicle while the Jaws of Life pried open the roof of her car curling it like a tin can. She was then placed in a stretcher and rushed to the awaiting helicopter, which had landed moments before in the RBR softball field.

RBR physical education teacher and wrestling coach Scott Ferris had the most somber role to play. Upon arrival and examination at the crash site, EMS workers placed a prominent "deceased" label on his overturned automobile.

"It doesn't get any more authentic than this," said Little Silver Sgt. Daniel Shaffery.

The Little Silver Police and Fire departments and EMS and the Shrewsbury Fire Department all participated.

If the re-enactment didn't hit home with the students, the talk afterward most definitely did.

State Police helicopter paramedic Carl Correire picked up the narrative after the evacuation.

"What happens to you after you get to a trauma center isn't pretty and all your dreams and goals could be cancelled or put on hold," Correire said.

He emphasized, "Anytime you take alcohol when you drive, you risk getting into an accident."

Jerry Tildan, managing partner of the funeral home, described what happens to the body once it is evacuated from the scene and the first of kin is asked to make an identification.

"We can't do very much to make you look presentable for your family, because at that point you are considered evidence in a vehicle crash," Tildan said.

Speaking with strong emotion he added, "In my 22 years in this business, I have had to witness too many parents identifying the bodies of their teenagers. No one should be picking out a casket for a teenager."

Kingsmore told the students that her reasons for volunteering in this exercise were personal.

"I know of the family pain caused by a drunk driver. My husband had to identify his 17-year-old sister after a drunken driver killed her while she was crossing the street. She never had an opportunity to live her life."

Carella described the sensation of being under the sheet with which EMS workers cover victims for protection in the extrication process.

She said, "You hear a lot of twisting metal and breaking glass. I don't wish that on anyone."

Ferris' role was to play dead, but it was still very disconcerting for him to hear the scene around him.

He told the students, "It was scary under that sheet; I heard the sirens, the cracking voices on the EMS radios saying 'This one didn't make it.'… You need to understand that this weekend anything can happen and you need to make the decision to do the smart thing."

Other activities designed to encourage students not to drink and drive on prom night continued throughout the week.

On June 3, Officer Gibson met with each senior gym/health class for further discussion accompanied by videos of actual drunken driving crashes.

On Wednesday through Friday, each senior participated in a variety of activities utilizing the fatal-vision goggles which simulates the impairments of intoxication.

Students were asked to walk a straight line, put together a child's puzzle while reciting the alphabet and negotiate an obstacle course driving a golf cart.

Officer Gibson also demonstrated the use of an "intoxi clock," which estimates the rise in blood alcohol level according to each student's weight, sex, and number of drinks consumed in a given time period.

For instance, a male weighting 125 pounds who consumes five alcoholic drinks within an hour (typical for teenage binge drinking) will register a blood alcohol level (B.A.L.) of 0.14. That equates to 14 percent of blood in his body being alcohol. The legally intoxicated measurement is .08 percent. It also takes many hours before the B.A.L .returns to normal.

"It was a real challenge; you see three of everything," said RBR Senior Mike Malafronte about the fatal-vision exercise.