Hominy Crash Simulation Shows Real-Life Dangers Of Distracted Driving

Students at Hominy High School got a real-life lesson about the dangers of texting and driving.

More than 1,000 people were in car accidents last year in Oklahoma because of being distracted by a cell phone, and first responders want to make sure that students in Hominy know the heavy costs of texting and driving.

"We are going to page out like it's a real car wreck. Police, fire, EMS is going to respond just like we do in real life," said Captain Coby Surritte with Hominy Fire.

Friday, Hominy middle and high schools teamed up with emergency service crews from across the city to simulate a distracted driving accident, and the first responders made the lesson graphic.

"We are going to throw some things at them that they probably have never seen, and might not ever see again," Surritte said.

The scenario includes three students who get into a texting-related car accident; one student is okay, one is cut from the car and one is killed.

It's a dramatic reenactment, but an effective one.

Surritte said, "Hopefully it will make them put their phones down while they are in their vehicle, not be messing with their radio so much. Everybody's guilty of it, we are just trying to teach them what could happen."

High school student Jaimie Wallace was one of the actors in the drill; she said the experience was something she will never forget.

"It definitely taught me to not text or drink and drive - just make sure I pay attention to what I'm doing because I don't wanna mess anything up for my life," she said.

First responders are in talks about making the crash simulation a yearly event.