Athol High School stages mock crash to promote safe driving

ATHOL – With Athol High School’s junior-senior prom scheduled for this Saturday, local first responders staged the biannual Arrive Alive demonstration, a mock accident meant to show the risks of drinking and driving.

School Resource Officer Courtney Call said four AHS students portrayed victims injured in the mock crash, while an Athol Fire Department mannequin was used to represent a fifth victim, “killed” in the crash.

“We use a mannequin, because it’s actually the (victim) that goes through the windshield,” said Call.

According to AHS teacher Kelly Kaczmarczyk, who helped coordinate the event, students Abigail Spooner, April Ruiz, Matthew Gould and Alana DuPont volunteered to portray the victims for the demonstration.

Following the mock crash, Kaczmarczyk said that most of the students “don’t say much, but they say it does make them more aware of the choices they make, that they need to make better choices. They understand why we’re doing it and that the staff and police and fire are just trying to make sure that they’re making good choices during prom season. It opens their eyes a little bit.”

Kaczmarczyk said she also runs the Grim Reaper event at the high school prior to the mock accident.

“Stats tell us that every 15 minutes a teenager dies from either drinking and driving or texting and driving” Kaczmarczyk said. “So, I have a Grim Reaper who goes around the school who takes a kid out of class every 15 minutes. They put all-white clothing on, they come up with a scenario of how they died, and then they go back to class. They’re not allow to talk to anyone or interact with anyone because they’ve passed away from either drinking and driving or texting and driving.”

All of the 22 students tapped by the Grim Reaper then line up at the Arrive Alive demonstration to show the student body how many students can die in the space of just five hours.

Call said the event is staged every two years, instead of annually, so that students don’t become desensitized to the mock accident.

“Also, as a freshman, you’re not likely to get out of it what you would as a junior or senior,” Call said. “You’re not behind the wheel yet, you’re not in charge of other people’s lives while driving. You mature over the years and eventually get a better understanding of the impact of things in life.”

Fire Department Capt. and Public Education Coordinator Jamal Hamilton oversees the department’s participation in the demonstration. He grew up in Athol and said that the town is close-knit, and when an accident like this happens in real life, it sends ripples throughout the community.

In addition to the Athol police and fire departments, a LifeFlight medical transport helicopter was used in in Friday’s demonstration, along with representatives from the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office and juvenile court.

Hamilton said the two vehicles used in the demonstration were provided by Mormon Hollow Auto of Wendell. One of the vehicles, said Call, will remain in front of the high school all week as a reminder of the damage a serious crash inflicts upon the victims, their families, first responders and the community as a whole.

“We want to proactively do our part to do whatever we can to make sure these kinds of things don’t happen here,” Hamilton said. “At the end of the day, we can say we’ve made an effort to do our part to keep kids safe. Most of us involved in this have been to serious accidents or know people who have perished in these types of accidents.”