Bryan High Students Get Sobering Drunk Driving Demonstration
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Updated: 6:36 PM Mar 10, 2010
Bryan High Students Get Sobering Drunk Driving Demonstration
If you live around Bryan High School chances are you heard sirens or a PHI helicopter.
Posted: 5:18 PM Mar 10, 2010
Reporter: Shane McAuliffe
Email Address: mcauliffe@kbtx.com
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If you live around Bryan High School chances are you heard sirens and might have even seen a PHI helicopter on Wednesday morning. There was no emergency at the school, but juniors and seniors at Bryan High got an all too real look at what would happen in a fatal drunk driving accident and its authenticity was almost too much.

"It's just too intense, I just can't do it," said Bryan High junior Cerica Dickson.

Having to watch their peers pulled out of alcohol-related crash next to Bryan High was a powerful presentation.

"I'm never drinking and driving that's for sure," said senior Bobby Putz.

It's part of the Shattered Dreams program. It gives high school students a first hand look at what happens in the minutes following a wreck.

"We do this so the kids get a chance to experience it. So they do get that feeling and they know what will happen if they choose to drink and drive," said Bryan High teacher Morgan Messick.

From a student being pulled out with the jaws of life and then flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital. To one student's body being removed and taken away by the morgue. The lesson was a very real one.

"It was a very powerful presentation. The car wreck and all the deaths and injuries that was very powerful," said junior Roderick Warren.

"Kids need to realize what drinking and driving does and they need to know that it can take your life away," said senior Black Maldonado.

"You got to always have a designated driver. I mean young people shouldn't even be drinking at these ages," said junior Joseph Arellano.

"It was just really hard because it had a lot of resemblance," said junior Jessica Chicas.

The display was all to familiar to Chicas. Her best friend, Alex Dickey died in a alcohol-related crash on Copperfield drive just a year and half ago.

"I still keep in touch with her mom and it's hard because I still remember it. It's just really hard to take in," said Chicas.

And that feeling that Jessica will have the rest of her life is a feeling the Shattered Dreams program is trying to give all the students without having to lose their friends.

"We don't want this feeling to leave them. We want it to stay with them and that is the main reason we do it," said Messick.

The program will wrap up on Thursday morning when parents of those involved in the demonstration have to read their child's obituaries to the school.


Latest Comments

Posted by: Tamika on Mar 11, 2010 at 06:36 PM

im only 13 but i still know not to drink and drive but i think what thay did was grate and thay should do that for yanger schools to!!! so thay have longer time to think about what thay are going to do!
Posted by: Slyck Location: CS on Mar 11, 2010 at 06:09 PM

You may be right about separating the texting and talking on the phone from the drunk driving program. But don’t fool yourself into thinking the percentages are lower. Just take the latest defensive driving exam and you will be sadly surprised by the stats. The death rate may be slightly lower.... On the average, 11,000 annually killed in distracted related accidents vs 18,000 annually in alcohol related. But, the number of injuries is much higher. 500,000 people are injured in accidents involving distracted driving every year vs. 327,000 people injured in alcohol related crashes. Distracted driving is defined as texting/talking on the phone. University of Utah researcher David Strayer has been studying distracted drivers for 10 years. "The brain just doesn't work the way we'd like it to work," he says. "We can't multitask the way that a lot of people think they can." David's research found that talking on a cell phone quadruples your risk of an accident. "For comparison purposes, someone who's drunk at a 0.08 blood alcohol level has a four-time crash increase. So talking on a cell phone is about the same as driving drunk," he says. "When you're text messaging, the crash risk goes up to eight times." Texting and talking on the phone is, indeed, just as deadly as drunk driving.
Posted by: Participant Location: BHS on Mar 11, 2010 at 03:35 PM

Slyck: I dont believe that texting and chatting on the phone should be included because that should be a seperate program, it is important and it does cause accidents but I dont think that the percentages are anywhere close to how high it is with drinking and driving. I have friends who have choosen to drink and drive and the next day they call me crying because they dont know how they got home, I dont not party often but when I do, I dont drink I am the DD! :] Robert: Yes I think they should have gont to A&M as well because they have more people pass away every year because of drunk drivers, maybe the program needs to be started there as well it has had a GREAT effect on us here at Bryan High!
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