Mock crash aims to drive point home

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GINA KINSLOW

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May 13, 2008

By GINA KINSLOW The Glasgow Daily Times Tue May 13, 2008, 04:14 PM CDT

GLASGOW — Lyndsey Crumpton is not a professional actress, but on Monday she played a serious role — a critically injured teenager.

Crumpton was one of four Barren County High School seniors who took part in a mock crash to show students what can happen if they drink and drive and how important it is to wear a seat belt.

“It’s good to show kids how it really happens,” Crumpton said. “It will open their eyes and they will think twice before they get into the car after drinking.”

A wrecked Volkswagen was brought in for the demonstration. The “injured” students were painted with fake blood and asked to sit in the car – which had broken windows and a smashed front end – and pretend they had been seriously injured.

Joining Crumpton in the skit were BCHS seniors Adam Fife, Kali Lyons and Lucas Mohon.

Crumpton, Lyons and Mohon were placed on stretchers, loaded into ambulances and whisked away from the scene with sirens blaring.

Fife, however, got to ride in a hearse belonging to A.F. Crow and Son Funeral Home. He played the role of the teen who died after being thrown from the car because he wasn’t wearing his seat belt.

Portraying his mother was Valeria Ward, the mother of a classmate, who came running up to the scene screaming.

Ward supported the idea of the mock crash.

“I think it will help the children see what a crash looks like and hopefully make them think before getting into a car and driving recklessly without their safety belt,” she said.

Firefighters with the Glasgow Fire Department were called in to cut the roof off the Volkswagen using Jaws of Life tools while ambulance personnel stood by waiting to tend to the victims.

Watching were members of the school’s student body.

Zach Austin, a senior, said seeing friends being extracted from a wrecked car hit home.

“It was kind of scary to see what could happen, even if you’re not drinking and driving,” he said. “Wrecks can always happen, so it’s kind of weird to actually see something like this happen.”

Witnessing the mock crash made senior Aideoro Vco glad she wears her seat belt.

“It just made me grateful that I do, and I really actually do because of everything that can happen in a quick instant,” she said.

Prior to the demonstration, Josh Gentry, a Barren County High School graduate and brain injury survivor, spoke about the wreck he was in and his injuries.

The mock crash is one of three events area high schools are using to get the message across to teens that they need to use their seat belts.

New signs provided by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and the Barren River Area Development District were unveiled last week and will soon be put up near the high schools’ entrances to remind students to buckle up.

The leading cause of death among people ranging in age from 15 to 20 is traffic accidents.

“Barren County will lose three every year, statistically,” said Gary Gardner, Safe Communities educator. “Kentucky lost 85 people last year between the ages of 16 to 19. Nationally, six people die a day in crashes in that age group.”

Gardner monitors high school students monthly to see if they use their seat belts.

Approximately 90 percent of GHS students do, while 70 percent of BCHS and 60 percent of Caverna students use theirs.

“The goal is to get 100 percent,” Gardner said.

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