Assembly held to drive students to safety

On the chilly afternoon of April 4, 2016, Tunstall High School students took the bleachers for a drunk driving assembly in light of the upcoming celebrations, prom and graduation, and the high risk for students driving in certain conditions. Deputy Silverman put together the driving simulation, hoping to “promote safety beforehand” and show students how a situation behind the wheel can go wrong, fast, by recreating a Pittsylvania County crash.

“I want to make [the assembly] as real as possible for what it is, but make it educational too,” Silverman said. “Too many bad decisions make dead kids.”

After the accident in September involving the deceased Trojan Keevon Martin, senior Rhayne Tucker took initiative a week later to speak with Colonel King about her idea of having an assembly to highlight the many dangers that teenagers face when driving a vehicle.

She wanted to warn students about many unsafe driving habits, including driving under the influence. “It seems like every year we’re losing somebody,” Tucker commented. “I hope it will be a positive reaction from the students and [they will] take it seriously, so they won’t drink and drive.”

Through YOVASO.org, statistics prove that someone dies on the highway in the United States every 15 minutes. “We’ve been in school for a little over an hour, that’s four people not going home today,” Silverman said, adding that Pittsylvania County Schools averages one student death per year, and within that Tunstall has one student not return about every three years. “It is the number one killer for teenagers, period.”

Students filed into the bleachers, presented with two wrecked cars sitting on the tracks, clearly T-boned. Within one, senior Trevor Mensavage sat behind the wheel, simulating a drunk driver with a blood alcohol level of 0.04. The other held the victims of the crash. The driver who was dead on arrival was played by senior Kayla McGuire, who was innocent to the crash, but was at fault for not wearing a seatbelt. By her side sat Tucker as an injured passenger, needing to be cut from the vehicle.

Local fire and rescue teams sounded their sirens and raced around the track to the scene of the accident, working together with Tunstall’s own junior members of the Danville Lifesaving Crew to assist the situation. Senior Haley Hall, a local trained EMT, was inserted in through the back broken windshield of the car to take care of Tucker while the team worked to remove the top of the car to get better access to the victims. Certified EMS, Senior Becca Scarce and Tyler Campbell stood at the edge of the scene with a stretcher and other emergency medical technicians. “I think this assembly is very much needed, ” said Scarce. “I hope it changes the mindset of the students.”

Mensavage was pulled out of his vehicle by police officers and required to take four sobriety tests, all of which he failed. With a 0.04 blood alcohol level, Mensavage stumbled his way through his ABC’s and straight into a pair of handcuffs. The police officer escorted him to the cruiser and charged the teenager with DUI manslaughter, with 40-50 years of prison hanging over his head for one mistake. In the hour long assembly three lives were ruined– one facing jail time, one deceased, and one restricted to a wheel chair for the rest of her life. In the eyes of Tucker, teenage traffic wrecks are because of thoughtlessness. “That’s what teenagers don’t do… think.”

Students reactions after the assembly included the following:

“No one should drive drunk. It’s selfish,” commented sophomore Molly Hughes.

“The representation was eye opening. It made me realize that your life can change in a split second. It’s just one bad choice,” said junior Carleigh Coleman.

“It was eye opening,” said sophomore Patrick MacLeish. “I was very affected and it changed my opinion on drunk driving.”

“It makes me realize that one single mistake can be life changing,” said senior Tyone Hairston.

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