Roughly 250 students and faculty gathered in the Quad on Oct. 25 to witness a mock car crash involving a drunk driver. The Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) and Student Affairs sponsored the event.
TKE President, Cameron Smith, acted out the role of the drunk driver. Several of Smith’s friends were in the car that he was driving. Trixy Palencia, Christine Bremer and Darci Goodman were among a few members from SADD were in the other car.
“A lot of people don’t think of their consequences. They think of them only when it’s too late,” said Palencia, a junior biology-health management major.
“It was effective and a good way for college students to realize they’re not invisible,” said Bremer, junior biology major.
Hamden Firefighters and Police enacted the procedure of removing the injured victims from the mangled cars and treating the accident as a crime scene. Smith was given a sobriety test by the police officer and was then arrested for drunk driving. Each step of the procedure was discussed over the make-shift PA system in the Quad. Smith had no idea that the girl that died in the other car was in fact his sister.
Two speakers gave their stance on the issue of decision-making and getting behind the wheel after drinking. Helen Hall spoke on behalf of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). She shared her experience of losing her daughter to a drunk driving incident years ago.
Hall stressed the “irresponsible and criminal behavior” of these individuals that take their lives and others in their hands when they drive drunk. She said it is their “responsibility to make good decisions [and] to think before getting behind the wheel after any amount of drinking.”
Another member of TKE read a poem detailing family and individual decisions and responsibility of drinking and driving.
“I’ve never seen one of these mock accidents before.
“It’s going to make people think twice about getting behind the wheel after drinking,” said Joe Tasca, Junior Mass Communications major.