STARKVILLE — A horrified scream pierces the air as a teen rushes toward two cars smashed against each other as if they just collided head-on. She pulls her phone out of her pocket and swiftly punches in three digits before tapping the green call button.
“Hello, there’s been an accident,” she yells into her phone.
Another teen stumbles out of the driver’s seat of the vehicle, covered in red made to look like blood. The two teens were some of the four students from Starkville High School acting in a scenario put together by emergency responders from Starkville and Oktibbeha County.
After lunch on Thursday, juniors and seniors at SHS attended a program in the high school gymnasium warning them of the dangers of driving under the influence, distracted driving and driving without a seatbelt. The program targeted the upperclassmen just two days before their prom Saturday evening.
“As we’ve said to them from the beginning, the important thing is for them to get home safely,” said SHS Principal Darein Spann. “I’ll be at the prom dancing, watching them dance, but once they leave, as their parent here at school, I’m hoping that there’s not a phone call that comes to me — that they make it home alive.”
The event was organized by Erinn Funches, child life specialist at University of Mississippi Medical Center.
She coordinated the program with Jackson State University, Mississippi Highway Patrol, Mississippi Office of Highway Safety, the Oktibbeha County coroner, Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office, Pafford Emergency Medical Services, Starkville Fire Department, Starkville Police Department and Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District.
Throughout the day SHS students listened about the dangers of bad driving habits. The final program — the traffic accident simulation complete with first responders — awaited them behind the softball field.
In the scenario, there were three victims dead on arrival, but only one was played by a student. A dummy and baby doll were the other two victims.
SPD Sgt. George Coleman told the students about the punishment a driver can face if they cause the death of another person while driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“I’ll be working Saturday night, and I don’t want to see or hear about any of you getting pulled over for driving under the influence,” Coleman said. “… The Mississippi law covers aggravated DUI — where you hurt, maim or kill somebody while under the influence. (The sentence) starts at 20 years. If you feel impaired for some reason or you see somebody impaired, don’t let them drive.”
As paramedics draped a white cloth over the scene’s victims, students let out a gasp and one student voiced her concern for even attending prom.
One SOCSD school resource officer, Cedric Sykes, asked the students to make him a promise.
“Come Sunday morning there won’t be anyone calling me, telling me something happened to one of you,” Sykes said. “… Be a good friend — if someone is drinking don’t let them drive. Look out for each other, but also have some fun. I want you to turn up, but don’t do something to have your family, a school administrator, to have me be told that something has happened to you. I love each and every one of you like my own kids. I want to see all of you walk across the stage (at graduation).”
Amisha Wilkerson, marketing director at MOHS, told her own story as a mother rushing out to her son who was in a late night head-on collision with a drunk driver. Her son walked away with minor injuries, but she said she still carries that terror with her.
She goes all over the state educating people on the dangers of bad driving habits from new drivers to aging drivers and said she hopes it helps young drivers develop safe driving habits before it is too late.
“We all share a common goal — to reduce fatalities and injuries from traffic accidents throughout our state,” Wilkerson said. “We all have to be adults one day, and if we get them while they’re young and they get those good habits, they can carry that on as adults. … Our program is data driven. Right now our seatbelt use rate is 78.9 percent, and next year we hope it goes up. We hope these kids, and even adults here, can help us increase that rate.”
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