Don’t be alarmed by the flashing lights Thursday on the Drillfield. It will just be the Virginia Tech rescue squad, in conjunction with Virginia Tech Police and the Blacksburg Fire Department, staging a mock DUI car crash.
Part training exercise and part public awareness event, the mock crash will serve to both test VT Rescue’s level of training and preparedness, as well as show students the end result of drinking while driving.
“I think most people are aware of the end result of drunk driving, but some people just don’t care” said Mike Sty, a junior industrial and systems engineering major.
VT Rescue seeks to combat both ignorance and apathy this week by staging the mock crash, which will simulate exactly how the police, fire department and VT Rescue would respond to a real one.
Kimberly Heald, VT Rescue president and junior spanish and business major, explained how the entire event will occur. Two wrecked cars will be placed at the lower end of the Drillfield near the Duck Pond. Each participating agency will arrive and begin its role. The police will arrest the actor portraying the drunk driver, while the rescue squad and fire department extract the victims and perform triage.
In order to simulate a real crash as closely as possible, VT Rescue will be using all of the equipment they would normally use. This means they will be using heavy equipment like hydraulic rescue tools, more commonly known as the “Jaws of Life,” to cut the damaged cars open.
Carilion will be providing a helicopter not only to simulate the possibility of severe injuries requiring air transport to a hospital, but also to attract attention of students around campus. There will be a narrator on hand to explain what is happening to any passerbys as part of the effort to promote community involvement and awareness.
“We want to show that this is a real possibility,” Heald said. “We also want to get the community involved in how to respond.”
Heald said Blacksburg is lucky that DUI crashes are rare, but noted the problem is always present.
“Alcohol is always a problem in a number of cases, but it is not a worse problem in Blacksburg when compared to other areas,” Heald said.
The annual mock crash aims to make students think twice before getting into a car intoxicated.
“I remember last year people were walking by and would ask what we were doing. We would tell them that this was the result of a DUI,” said Johnathan Sorah, a junior biochemistry major and VT Rescue member. “We want them to say, ‘Maybe I should think before I get into a car drunk.’”
Sorah said since VT Rescue deals with on-campus emergencies, many of the calls they field involve alcohol poisoning or vomiting, although he added that the majority of Tech students do not seem to have an alcohol problem.
The VT Rescue Squad hopes to continue displaying the carnage that can result from driving while intoxicated.