The theme this year was the hazards of “buzzed driving” while impaired by marijuana or other drugs and the dangers of distracted driving.
The results, delivered theatrically by Fairfield drama students, were eye-opening to its intended audience: Impressionable teens.
“It’s a great thing for us to see,” said Fairfield junior Laura Jones. “We might think it’s fun (driving impaired by drugs or alcohol) now, but any result isn’t worth it.”
Jones said she appreciated the elaborate effort – all volunteered by local Fairfield officers, firefighters, EMS, a local funeral home and UC Health Aircare – saying it works.
“It shows us right in our face what can happen,” she said.
Re-enactment also included one student victim being cut out of a damaged car by “jaws of life” cutters and then taken by stretcher to nearby Aircare and flown to Butler County Regional Airport about a mile away.
According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, there have been seven fatal crashes in Butler County so far this year. In 2016 there were a total of 22 in the county and 28 in 2015.
Last year, the number of reported distracted drivers rose 5 percent over the previous year, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, after rising 11 percent from 2014 to 2015.
Final statistics for 2016 will be released next month, but as of Dec. 1, state troopers had cited more than 23,000 impaired drivers from Ohio’s roadways in 2016 — a 4 percent increase over 2015.
Fairfield’s prom is this weekend, and the timing of the mock crash so close to the date was intentional, said Nina Rose, the high school’s veteran school nurse and one of the event coordinators.
“It’s important to remind teenagers that buzzed driving is drunk driving and that one poor decision can change your life and the lives of your family forever,” said Rose.
The demonstration also represents the unchanging generational battle of making sometimes unaware teens conscious of their mortality, she said.
“Sometimes it’s just a reminder of what it could really look like so we make it realistic to show them what a (crash) scene really looks like to kind of bring the point home a little bit more,” she said.
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