Students See Impact Of Drunken Driving

It was supposed to be a perfect outing for two high school chums.

One friend, the driver, gave in to the temptation of drinking.

Driving home, the car crashed into a second car driven by another high school girl returning home from a babysitting job. The scene was chaotic: police, firefighters, ambulances, the emergency room, the coroner – and the shocking realization that the passenger in the first car was dead.

This may seem dramatic, but too often it’s reality. According to the Centers for Disease Control, alcohol-related crashes are the number one cause of death for young people ages 15 to 21. Only this time, the scenario was staged in order to help provide a teachable moment.

Two WEAC members, one a teacher and the other a WEA Trust representative, engaged about 30 middle and high school students and about 20 adults from Waukesha, Milwaukee and Walworth Counties in a nearly six-hour drunk-driving prevention program last fall.

Barb Church, a bilingual/English-as-a-second-language teacher from Horning Middle School in Waukesha, created a program she titled “Take the Wheel and Drive – Soberly” to teach young people about the events that often surround an underage alcohol-related crash. Using her past jobs as a health teacher and an emergency medical technician, Church enlisted a variety of community businesses and groups to arrange three events, including a crash, an emergency department scenario and a courtroom trial.

“Many schools present a staged crash around prom or graduation time, but that is just the tip of the iceberg of events,” Church said. “Take the Wheel and Drive – Soberly’s mission was to show young people all of the events, not just the crash. We not only showed them a more complete picture of the consequences, but we also gave those who attended suggestions on how to make better decisions and deal with the peer pressure.”

In addition to the crash, “Take the Wheel and Drive – Soberly” included a hospital component of four 20-minute sessions: the emergency room, physical therapy, the coroner and parents of young people who had been killed in such crashes.

In the afternoon, participants attended sessions on the laws, insurance and a funeral home perspective.

WEA Trust representative Marty Richards offered his knowledge about insurance but also had a personal reason for participating. Richards, a former high school football coach, is haunted by the tragic story of one of his students from Wonewoc-Union Center.

“There was a young man I mentored who had completed his first year at a technical school, and during this past summer, the young man had been drinking and then drove his motorcycle without wearing a helmet. As a result of his injuries, his future will never be the same.

“I know that everyone took something away from the day,” Richards said. “As a coach, I know that the life lessons I have given have reached others. I can only hope that by participating in an event like this, I have helped someone from making the same mistake.”

The day ended with the mock trial in which the driver was prosecuted and found guilty of contributing to the death of her best friend.

All participants received T-shirts and a resource folder that contained activities and worksheets that could be used to help young people remember the day and avoid drinking and driving.
“Take the Wheel and Drive – Soberly” was a project put on by the PARC (Preventing Alcohol Related Crashes) Youth Group of Waukesha County. Church began the youth group in 2000.

Posted February 7, 2003