PITSBURG — Premier Health’s CareFlight Air and Mobile Service will be hosting a Drive Smart Program at Franklin Monroe High School the morning of April 22, 2024. For more than 20 years, CareFlight has offered Drive Smart, a nationally recognized mock crash program that gives high school students a real life look at the consequences of poor choices before getting behind the wheel of a car.

The mock crash will be put together by Premier Health and Franklin Monroe’s SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) group, with the help of the Darke County Sheriff’s Department, Darke County Coroner’s Office, Pitsburg Fire Department, Arcanum Rescue, and Tribute Funeral Homes. The Drive Smart mock crash involves a scenario with two wrecked cars that are staged to represent a crash scene immediately following a motor vehicle accident. Student actors from Franklin Monroe’s SADD group will be participants in the mock crash.

The mock crash will be narrated throughout, and all events will occur in real time, with emergency radio traffic and phone calls made audible for the entire audience. The scenario will begin immediately after the crash occurs with bystanders calling 911, and will progress with the dispatch and arrival of police, fire and EMS, the extrication of victims from the vehicles, the dispatch and arrival of the CareFlight helicopter, the transport of the injured crash victims, the arrest of the intoxicated driver, and finally the removal of the deceased victim by the coroner with placement into a hearse. At the conclusion of the scenario, a parent who has lost a child in a similar situation will speak to the audience, giving an emotional and sobering testimony to the realities of impaired and risky driving.

The objectives of the Drive Smart Program are geared towards raising teen awareness of the dangers and consequences of bad decision-making, specifically distracted driving, driving under the influence, and driving/riding unrestrained.