Mock crash sends message to Palmerton students
Chris Jahelka of the Aquashicola Volunteer Fire Department breaks out a rear window Tuesday during a mock crash at Palmerton Area High School. Student council organized the event to draw attention to the dangers of driving under the influence leading up to the school’s prom on Friday. Scan this photo with the Prindeo app to see a video. JARRAD HEDES/TIMES NEWS
Jacob Taschler, Palmerton Area High School senior, plays the role of a drunken driver during a mock crash Tuesday at Palmerton Area High School. Taschler is being assisted by Aquashicola Volunteer Fire Department Chief Bill George while trooper Charles Inserra, left, and Cpl. Matthew Knock, of the state police barracks in Lehighton, look on. JARRAD HEDES/TIMES NEWS
Members of the Palmerton Area High School junior and senior classes look on as a PennSTAR helicopter lands Tuesday during a mock crash at Palmerton Area High School. JARRAD HEDES/TIMES NEWS
Bloodied bodies were strewed about the front lawn of Palmerton Area High School on Tuesday afternoon, just feet from where two vehicles had crashed head-on.
Luckily, the scene was staged, but it gave members of the Bomber junior and senior classes an up-close look at the potential aftermath should one of them get behind the wheel while under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
With prom on the horizon this Friday, the Palmerton high school student council organized a mock crash involving members of state and local police, the Carbon County district attorney and coroner, funeral director Richard Taylor, Palmerton Community Ambulance, PennSTAR air medical, the Aquashicola Volunteer Fire Department and the Palmerton Municipal Fire Company.
“We wanted to address the risks and consequences of texting while driving, driving under the influence and driving recklessly,” Joshua Nenscel, Palmerton Area High School student council co-adviser. “Prom is coming up on Friday so we thought it would be a good time to get the juniors and seniors in here to go over not only what can happen in a crash, but the legal impact of a DUI as well.”
Before his career in law enforcement, trooper Charles Inserra spent 11 years as a health and physical education teacher in the Pleasant Valley School District. He said visuals like the mock crash conducted Tuesday help to drive home the message of “don’t drink and drive.”
“It doesn’t click in the classroom like it does on the side of Forest Inn Road when your car is all smashed up and you’re bleeding,” Inserra said.
He shared the timely story of a 27-year-old female he arrested Monday for driving under the influence of heroin.
“When I found her, she was passed out behind the wheel after being 15 minutes late to pick up her first-grade son,” Inserra said. “The story she told me is that she had her wisdom teeth pulled when she was 16 and the doctor prescribed her Percocet. When that ran out, she turned to heroin. This will be the third time in five years she’ll be headed to jail.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a quarter of car crashes with teens involve an underage drinking driver. Ninety-five percent of the 14 million people who are alcohol dependent began drinking before the legal age of 21.
Alcohol or drugs aren’t always the only factors that can play into fatal crashes.
Palmerton Junior High teacher Brianna Carroll lost one of her two brothers to a reckless driving incident in 2005.
“The driver was racing another vehicle,” Carroll told students. “State police told my parents the car my brother was in was going 85 mph on a back road when it hit a tree. I leave this parking lot every day and I see a lot of cars peeling out. I know most of you won’t touch alcohol or drugs and get behind the wheel, but I wanted to share what can happen just by being reckless.”
Nenscel said he hoped the event hit home with the student body.
“We just want to create awareness,” he said, “and let them see a visual representation of what happens and ensure they understand the consequences of their actions.”
