CHICOPEE, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) -- Hundreds of students at Chicopee Comprehensive High School got a sobering lesson on Tuesday. Their school parking lot was turned into a mock crash scene, as they learned the dangers of drunk driving through a recreation of a drunk driving accident, where a passenger was trapped in the car.

Western Mass News spoke with Geoffry Gleason, a senior at the school, learning what he took away from the lesson, “I took away how catastrophic it can be. And how detrimental, like how it can hurt just more than one person, not just the person actually driving.”

A student volunteer was chosen to act as the drunk person behind the wheel, and the Chicopee Fire Department demonstrated how they would save someone injured in a crash. This included breaking into jammed car doors and moving the person, or in this case a dummy, onto a stretcher and into the back of an ambulance.

As a senior, Gleason and his classmates are just now getting their licenses, and he recognizes what kind of responsibility comes with that, “It’s very important to have events like this, especially like senior year and junior year, because more kids start to drive and like more kids start to do stuff, you know, they’re not supposed to around like their age.”

With graduation and prom seasons coming up, organizers like Prevention Specialist at Chicopee Comprehensive High School Sherri Piekarski say it’s important for them to see the consequences of driving under the influence, So, yeah, I want this to become well known. I want the community, I want our students to really grasp the criticalness of, and risks of substance use / But to have everybody there and just physically be able to witness this visually, it makes it real.

Piekarski and other community leaders hope that the sights and sounds from Tuesday’s demonstration will stick with students long after this lesson. They’re urging teens to have a plan before going out; like having a sober driver or a parent.

Anything but driving after drinking.

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