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Springville High School conducts mock deadly crash for students

Posted at 7:10 PM, Apr 10, 2018
and last updated 2018-04-10 21:50:49-04

SPRINGVILLE, Utah - A mock car crash was held at the Springville High School Tuesday to show students the consequences of distracted driving.

Six students were selected to be a part of the accident, putting on make-up to look like blood and then sitting in two cars crashed together before emergency personnel pulled them out.

Springville Senior Griffan Slavens said having the police put on the scenario made everything more real for him.

“It’s not like another assembly where your teacher is just talking to you,” Slavens said. “Having a police officer involved, it has a little bit more of a serious tone.”

Life flight, ambulances, fire trucks and police vehicles were brought in to handle the fake accident.

Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Blake Bradford said they’ve been preparing for this day for a month. An experience and message he said, is worth all of the work put into it.

“They need to know what the consequences will be when they text, when they drive impaired and when they don’t wear their seatbelts,” Bradford said. “Hopefully with this school and with these students here today, if we can change one life, it will be worth it.”

After the ambulance and helicopter took off, the mock crash was over, but inside the high school, the stories continued.

Caskets and pictures of the students who role-played in the crash simulation were placed in the school auditorium. Two of the students made messages as though they were saying their last words on video for their fellow students and family to hear.

“Watching my little brother there, it just felt really real,” Justin Slavens said. “I couldn’t imagine if it was real, what it would be like.”

“We do it so that the students can come home to their mom and dad’s every night,” Bradford said. “The reaction of telling someone their loved ones aren’t coming homes, that’s unforgettable. We don’t want to do that anymore, that’s why we do this. So people are safe, so people can be families, so that people can be together.”

The crash simulation was created by the Utah Highway Patrol, Springville Police Department, Springville Fire Department, Utah County Sheriff's Office and the University of Utah AirMed.