BONNYVILLE – On April 30, emergency responders set up a mock incident scene in a parking lot just outside the Bonnyville and District Centennial Centre (C2). While the blood and injuries may have been fake, the message being relayed to students was very real.
The mock scene depicted the collision of two vehicles – and a boy lying on the ground – dead. The roles of those involved in the scene, drenched in what appeared to be blood, were acted out by students.
While the details of the day were fake, make-up artists ensured things looked incredibly real, according to Dan Heney, the Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority’s (BRFA) deputy chief.
There were also survivors trapped inside the vehicles. “We bring in real responders that treat them, get them out of the vehicles... into ambulances,” explains Heney. The nearby Agriplex was transformed to portray a live-action depiction of an emergency room with real hospital staff. Students were shown what it would be like to treat a patient, the decisions that would need to be made, and how staff communicate in a hospital setting.
“They’re going to see that, upwards of 20 people, are going to be involved in the care and treatment of all the people that were involved because of one poor decision,” says Heney. First responders also spoke to students about how emergency scenes affect them personally, in the long-term.
First responders are human too, says Heney. “You can’t do these constantly... and not feel something.”
Heney also reminds the public, that as a driver, you are not the only person vulnerable to injury or death – but your passengers as well.
RELATED: Kevin Brooks inspiring students through his own tragedy
Among the speakers on May 1 was Kevin Brooks. Now in his mid-40s, he is a paraplegic who has been using a wheelchair following a drunk driving car accident that happened when he was 21. Brooks ended up killing one of his best friends who was in the vehicle with him when he crashed his vehicle.
Fatal collisions
In Alberta, the total number of reportable collisions increased from 95,001 to 100,231 in 2021. Of those, 10,022 were non-fatal injury collisions, and 233 were fatal collisions, according to data from Traffic Safety, Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors released in September 2023.
In those collisions, 254 were killed and 13,097 injured, for a total of 13,351 victims in 2021.
Nationwide, from 2017 to 2021, an average of about 1,800 people died each year due to motor vehicle traffic collisions, according to an April 2023 data from Transport Canada.
In 2021 alone, 1,768 people died, including 15 fatalities of children between the ages of zero and four; 42 fatalities of children between the ages of five and 14; and 94 fatalities of people between the ages of 15-19.
The Transport Canada data also indicates the factors contributing to fatal collisions, which includes 22.32 per cent attributed to speeding, 23.4 per cent to impaired driving, 28.8 per cent to victims not using seatbelts, and 75.12 per cent to other human factors.
Ultimately, the idea behind the mock collision is to arm students with information and show them what could happen due to a bad driving decision.
“Even then, they all know this is fake,” says Heney. “But if we can reach even one of them, then maybe that’s one less person that doesn’t make a bad choice down the road.”
