A mock crash demonstration in the Halifax County High School bus parking lot Tuesday morning showed students firsthand the consequences of impaired and reckless driving.

The 11th and 12th graders stood behind yellow caution tape as they watched law enforcement officers, firefighters and EMS personnel respond to the mock crash demonstration in which the teenaged passengers lost their lives.

“This is a simulation, but the reality is, this could be you, your friend or a family member if you engage in any kind of reckless behavior,” Tiara Braxton, Project Impact manager with VCU Medical Center, told the students.

Braxton also told the students that preventable injuries are the leading cause of death and injury among 15-to-24-year-olds. VCU Project Impact coordinated the mock crash demonstration along with Youth of Virginia Speak Out About Traffic Safety, known as YOVASO.

While first responders assessed the passengers’ injuries, Virginia State Police trooper H.J. Buzzetta conducted field sobriety tests on the driver, played by HCHS senior Abagail Conner. Buzzetta then placed her under arrest for driving under the influence.

After the mock crash demonstration, the 11th and 12th grade students made their way from the bus parking lot to the school auditorium, where they heard more about the potentially life-altering impacts of impaired driving. A demonstration of emergency medical procedures was performed on the teenage passenger who went through the windshield in the car crash. The health care workers in the demonstration were unable to save the life of the teenager, who was pronounced dead on the table.

Buzzetta then spoke to the students about the legal consequences of distracted driving. She told the students that the driver in the mock crash demonstration was charged not only with DUI but also with four counts of manslaughter for the deaths of the passengers.

“Every year since I have been here, there has been an empty chair,” Buzzetta said. “Do you know what that empty chair stands for at graduation, at prom? That empty chair symbolizes one of you that doesn’t make it to that milestone … Make the decision to not drive intoxicated, to not drive distracted, and to not drive tired.”

The students also heard from three speakers whose lives were forever changed because of reckless drivers. One of the speakers, Madyson Andrade, lost her teenage sister Kolby Singleton in a car crash in August 2020. The unlicensed driver was speeding and crashed into a tree, killing Singleton instantly.

“That ordinary Sunday afternoon turned into the worst day of our lives. My mom lost her daughter, and her siblings lost their big sister, and we are still living with that loss every single day,” Andrade shared. “There isn’t a single part of life that hasn’t been affected by her absence.”

Another speaker, Tammy Gweedo McGee, told the students that her teenage son Conner had lost his life in a crash after getting in the car with an unlicensed driver after his junior homecoming dance.

Brad Hughes from the organization Faces of Heroes also shared his story. The Powhatan County sheriff’s deputy recounted the day that he was hit by a driver while conducting a roadside stop. Hughes told the students he lost both of his legs and nearly lost his life after being hit by a distracted driver who failed to move over to the next lane for the sheriff’s deputies to safely conduct their roadside stop.