Lynn English seniors receive graphic lesson on dangers of drunken driving

LYNN – It is that time of year again when teenagers look forward to summer vacation and high school seniors begin preparing for prom, graduation and the inevitable celebrations that will follow.While it is a reality that many teenagers will consume alcohol during these celebrations, Lynn Police once again attempted to educate students on the dangers of drinking and driving drunk Thursday morning with an assembly and demonstration at Lynn English High School.Seniors arrived at school to find a haunting reminder of the reality of drinking, as Lynn Police positioned a smashed up Toyota Corolla on the front lawn accompanied with signs warning of the consequences if they drink and drive.At an assembly held later that morning, Officer Robert LeBlanc spoke to the students about his experiences as a police officer dealing with tragedy, and provided a graphic slideshow and video presentation bringing the pain and agony of being in a car accident to life.Students gasped as photos of mutilated vehicles wrapped around trees or nestled in embankments dawned the screen. Many were even forced to look away as slide after slide featured bloody airbags, twisted metal and footage of deceased passengers being examined by coroners.LeBlanc did not just address drunken driving, but also spoke out against speeding, racing and urged students to wear seatbelts. The officer explained to students that it is not always the impact of the vehicle that causes harm in an accident either; it is the collision that internal organs have with the human skeleton that results in the majority of auto-related deaths.”Most people don’t realize that there are three collisions in every accident. The car collides with an object, you collide with the seatbelt, or the windshield or dashboard, but your organs are still moving after you stop. They are still going 65 miles per hour and something has to slow them down, and that is your skeleton,” he said. “In that tragic case where Princess Dianna died many years back, if you remember that, she was actually killed because the impact of the crash ripped her aorta from her heart because she was just going so fast.”To conclude the presentation, LeBlanc screened a video documenting three cases of teenagers who were seriously injured in drinking accidents.The first, a 20-year-old named Adam, rolled his car over four times after drinking heavily at a party. He was conscious and discussing the crash as nurses stapled his skull back together.The second teenager, named Tracy, was permanently injured when a drunken friend crashed into a tree. Her injuries were so bad that she was in a coma for 81 days and has permanent brain damage that makes it difficult for her to perform everyday tasks.Lastly, to show that drinking is dangerous even if a person is not going to get in to a vehicle, the video documented a teenager named Tom who fell 20 feet from a mall escalator after drinking a bottle of vodka.After viewing graphic footage of doctors drilling Tom’s skull to relieve pressure on his brain, LeBlanc warned students that the video continued with even more graphic, tragic accident footage that can be avoided in their lives if they make the right decisions this summer.”The average number of teenagers killed in car accidents every year is 5,000. Imagine the hallways at Tech, St. Mary’s Classical and English all silent. Not a sound,” he said. “Nobody plans a car crash. Nobody wakes up in the morning and says ‘I am going to get in to a car crash today.’ Be prepared – wear your seatbelt, don’t speed, don’t drive impaired and don’t get in to the car with someone who is driving impaired.”We are here because we care. We want to stop lives that are valuable from being lost to car accidents.”