On May 3 and 10, I took part in the Safe Communities Humboldt and Area 13th annual Prevent Alcohol and Risk Related Trauma in Youth (PARTY) program mock crash scene; first as a drunk driver and then as a victim being extricated.
While it is unnerving to be apart of a crash scene, everyone was very willing to keep the scene as authentic as possible.
Therefore I was handcuffed and placed in the back of a cop car; which do not have much leg room, by the way, and then had a window broken around me before I was placed on a back board.
I am not saying that I can fully understand what it is like to actually be in that situation. I do not know how it feels to actually be bleeding in a crushed vehicle but with the lights flashing, the sirens wailing, and emergency services around you, you feel vulnerable and scared.
In these types of situations where drugs and alcohol or a cell phone are involved, the saddest part of any of it is that it could have been avoided.
That is the point of PARTY.
Drunk driving and distracted driving accidents do not need to happen and the age of drivers who are most at risk for accidents considering their inexperience and tenancy towards reckless behaviour is in between the ages of 16-24.
There were 53,500 drivers in Saskatchewan aged 19 and younger in 2015 and 4,355 of those were involved in collisions, according to SGI.
Breaking that down even further by top six causes and charges of the accident; 229 were charged with driving with undue care and attention, 190 failed to yield the right of way, 117 were charged with other miscellaneous offenses, 44 were driving while impaired, 69 were following too close, and 65 were speeding.
While some of these causes are due to inexperience, these rates of drunk and distracted driving are no surprise.
Unfortunately adults are no better.
In Saskatchewan in the month of March 2017 alone, the RCMP handed out 523 tickets; “82 for driving without due care and attention and 441 for driving while using, holding, viewing or manipulating a hand-held cellphone,” according to SGI.
This has been the worst month since 2014 and the number keeps going up, however it should be noted that distracted driving regulations have changed since that time.
The message is still there, put down your cell phones while driving.
Speaking with Shari Hinz with Safe Communities, she says the best possible way of preventing driving issues in young people is to lead by example.
If parents put their phones down while driving and do not drink and drive, young drivers will take notice.
Despite levels of experience or age, we all have to share the road.
