Students from Oilfields High School in Diamond Valley were given a harrowing look at the immediate impact of impaired driving on Tuesday, May 13.
The Municipal Enforcement-led program, Operation Prevention, took 57 high school students through every step of a simulated impaired driving collision response.
That includes hearing a 911 call and seeing a simulated car wreck.
"We do our accidents on scene, then we take our children over to the Oilfields Hospital, where we've partnered with Alberta Health Services," explained Matt Hogan, Diamond Valley’s municipal enforcement manager. "We provide the kids with the opportunity to enter the trauma bay in the hospital and see a simulation done on a simulated person. Then they get to spend time in rehab in the hospital as well, learning what it would be like to learn how to walk and mobility issues associated with spinal cord injuries from an accident."
The group is also taken to the local fire hall to see the events unfold from the fire department's perspective.
Students got a firsthand look at the effects of impaired driving through a guest speaker, says Hogan.
"We've had speakers from Mothers Against Drunk Driving attend the event for the third year in a row, providing an overview of an incident from a survivor."
A collision occurred east of Diamond Valley just days before the event. According to the RCMP, investigators believe alcohol was a factor in the incident, which left one driver with life-threatening injuries and the other with serious injuries.
"We definitely highlighted the recent incident that we had just on the outskirts of our community. The students were well aware of the incident, so we had a discussion about that, and we did tie that into today's activities," said Hogan.
With this being Operation Prevention’s third consecutive year in Diamond Valley, Hogan believes the program is having its intended impact.
"We've partnered with Oilfields Hospital, Alberta Health Services, EMS, Diamond Valley Fire Rescue, the RCMP, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. We're all coming together to ensure that this program is flowing, is occurring yearly, and we're also working with our regional peace officer partners to bring this program to their communities as well."
Hogan said a few nearby communities have shown interest in hosting Operation Prevention events of their own, and he'd be eager to see it expand.