There is a need to promote awareness about drunk driving accidents this time of year in Yuma, Arizona, as well as the rest of the nation because of prom and graduation season. Recently, a group of Arizona teenagers were introduced to a novel way of creating awareness about the dangers of drunk driving. It is imperative that students know about these dangers, so local emergency services personnel staged a mock show at a local stadium to raise the consciousness among the young group.
The emergency personnel came up with an interesting scenario where two vehicles collided into each other. While the passengers in one car had been drinking, the passengers in the other were sober. The drunk driver smashed into the other car after running through a stop sign. The emergency department responded promptly as well as the ambulance and fire departments. However, the narrator explained that in more rural areas it could take up to 60 minutes for emergency personnel to get to the scene of the crash.
The narrator emphasized to the students that while the serious injuries they were seeing in the stage show were fake, the response of the emergency department was realistic. The narrator also said the yearly cost of accidents caused by drunk drivers is a whopping $52 billion. The narrator also stated that a person dies every half an hour because of the negligence of a drunk driver.
The narrator asked the audience to reflect on what the injuries and damages of the drunk driving accident might have been if the medical services team had not responded on time. The students in the audience were also provided some additional financial figures; medical expenses in a hospital emergency ward would cost around $1,500 while a helicopter ride would cost as much as $30,000.
These figures are not merely statistics to reflect upon. In real-life cases, accidents do happen. When a victim is injured or killed by a drunk driver, they or their families, may incur not only hefty medical bills but also costs associated with pain and suffering, emotional distress and in the worst of circumstances, funeral costs. Because of this, victims of drunk driving accidents may want to pursue legal action, in order to obtain the financial recovery they need during a difficult time in their lives.
Source: Parker Pioneer, “Mock accident shows students results of drinking and driving,” John Gutekunst, April 21, 2014