Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Students witness mock car accident
Villa Maria Academy, Malvern Prep students reminded to avoid drunk, distracted driving
It’s prom time, and with that comes schools and parents worry about celebrating students behind the wheel drinking and driving and the increasing issue of distracted driving. To address these problems, juniors and seniors from Villa Maria Academy and Malvern Prep witnessed a mock car accident on the parking lot at Villa Maria Thursday morning.
In the mock accident, Grace Maguire, a Villa Maria junior, played the role of a driver who crashed into another car driven by Malvern Prep senior Garrett Reilly. They are confronted with the realization that two of their friends have died in the crash after Maguire’s character drinks and drives, crashing into the other car full of teenagers.
Just as in a real accident, police respond and interview the drivers while firefighters and paramedics use rescue tool to cut the cars open and treat the injured students, as a helicopter from Jeffstat lands on the field behind them to take the injured to a Trauma Center.
Police instruct Maguire to take a sobriety test, which she fails. Police put her in hand-
cuffs as she protests that she didn’t do anything.
The central participants in the mock crash wear microphones allowing their fellow students to hear their cries of anguish and denial as Malvern classmate J.R. Byrne is found lying dead across the hood of the car. His mother, played by Media theater actress, Ellen Wineman, cries out for her son.
“It’s impactful and that’s what you want,” said Malvern Police Chief Lou Marcelli, who was on hand watching the event.
The event was supported by Allstate Insurance and Main Line Health.
“We want you to have a fun, heathy and safe prom,” said Principal Sister Regina Ryan. “But in my career I’ve gone to too many funerals.“
“With Uber and Lyft, we have no excuse to do this,” said Maguire, following the scenario. “We have to avoid drunk and distracted driving.”
Following the mock accident, speakers from Bryn Mawr Rehab held a program in which they talked about emotional and physical trauma that changed their lives. Daniel Perrino and his father David of Chadds Ford talked about Daniel’s accident in July of 2009 when he went off the road. After drinking that night, Daniel drove home when a friend asked him to drive.
“I had a bright future ahead of me, I was on top of the world and like many of you, I thought I was invincible,” he said. “That one choice I made was to drive my friend’s car home after I had been drinking.”
“It is very hard to see this accident and realize that was me,” said Daniel. “But I hope to change just one person’s life. If one person decides not to drink and drive then I’ve succeed.”
Perrino spent three months in a coma. He was in the hospitals for over two years learning to walk and talk again. He is half-blind in one eye and has hearing lose from the brain injury as well as short-term memory issues.
Daniel and his father have spoken to over 20,000 people in the years since the accident.
“After an accident like this, three of the five people may be back to normal a few months later, but for the ones involved there is no recovery. An entire circle of family is changed forever,” David Perrino said.