Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Demo shows students the danger of drinking, driving
With prom just around the corner, firefighters are trying to convince seniors at Deerfield Beach High School how easily a bad decision can ruin their lives.
Students watched from bleachers Friday as firefighters sawed the roofs off two smashed cars in a mock crash.
Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Kyle Van Buskirk didn’t want to lecture the students during the agency’s 19th annual drunkendriving demonstration. Instead, he wanted to tell them about ways to stay safe.
“Although we call them teenagers, basically they’re adults at this point. They’re driving cars, they have jobs, cellphones, car payments,” he said. “They have all this responsibility.”
Adjusting to those responsibilities can be a challenge for some teenagers, he said.
“It only takes one poor decision to cost your life or the life of a friend,” Van Buskirk said. “In some scenarios, people are being charged with manslaughter and they’re ending up in jail for 10 years, just for texting and driving.”
Three of his friends died when he was a student at the high school, he said. He doesn’t want to see the same thing happen again.
Speed, not recognizing hazards and distracted driving are the three main factors in teen crashes, Van Buskirk said.
Van Buskirk’s dad, former Deerfield Beach Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Chuck Van Buskirk, helped start the demonstration. He started the program to help students make better choices.
“Especially around the prom time, these seniors and juniors, they’re running on little or no sleep,” Chuck Van Buskirk said. “They’ve got all sorts of activities going on, from future colleges to jobs they’re trying to figure out. Then they fall asleep at the wheel.”
For Alaynah Senneker, hearing the statistics about how many people died was eye opening.
The senior said she sometimes uses Snapchat while driving but after seeing the demonstration, she’s reconsidering.
Fellow senior Lea Hynds thought about how easily she or her friends could become the seven victims other students portrayed.
She urges people to not only worry about themselves but to pay attention to the road.
“It’s really scary because it can happen to anyone,” she said. “I just hope it never happens to my class.”
Outside of the students in the stands, Leticia Marques wears a blue prom dress, playing the role of one of the victims killed in the crash. It’s all pretend but last year, she said she learned first-hand what it’s like to lose someone in a crash.
In February 2016, her friend Gabriella Sette Heiderick slammed into a tree in West Boca and died.
Palm Beach Sheriff ’s investigators said Heiderick wasn’t under the influence of alcohol but speed played a role in the crash.
“It was a young life, she was only 16 and she’s not here anymore,” Marques said. “It’s not only hard on her friends but also her family, who have to live with that for the rest of their lives.”