Mock crash gives Hardin County students immersive experience
SAVANNAH, Tenn. — Hardin County Emergency Services held their 2nd annual mock crash at Hardin County High School Monday morning.
During this mock crash, students were able to see the entire process of a motor vehicle accident, starting from the 9-1-1 call, to arriving on scene, to getting victims to safety.
“So, we staged a two-car wreck with one of the cars having someone that was ejected and a fatality,” said LaRae Smiley-Sliger, EMA Director for Hardin County. “So, the driver in the other vehicle was arrested as a drunk driver or distracted driver.”
The importance of this mock crash was to spread awareness of the dangers of teens driving under the influence.
“Doing this around this time of year just gets it back to the forefront of their minds. They need to be safe,” Smiley-Sliger said. “They don’t need to go out to these graduation parties, to these prom parties, and then try to drive when they’ve gotten ahold of some alcohol.”
In one vehicle, there was a fatality and one critical injury, while in the other, there was a drunk driver and another critical injury.
“So, fire crews had to roll up and assess what patients they had, and then, they had to decide how they needed to get them out. If the doors were jammed or bent where they couldn’t get them or if they needed to pull the roof off the car, so they had to think through their extrication plan,” said Smiley-Sliger.
After the victims were safely extracted, Tennessee Highway Patrol went around to mark the scene and begin their investigation.
Hardin County EMA encourages teens to call 9-1-1 if they encounter an accident. They also urge them to refrain from removing an injured person from a vehicle due to the unknown nature of their injuries.
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