With a realistic story line in which most young people could imagine themselves, and personal stories showing the heartache and grief caused by impaired driving, MADD Canada’s 2013/14 School Assembly Program challenges students to consider their perceptions and choices when it comes to mixing alcohol and/or drugs with driving.
“Reaching teens and young adults with the sober driving message is one of our most important priorities,” said MADD Williams Lake community leader, Pam Herman.
“Each year, MADD Canada produces a new School Assembly Program designed to get students thinking about the risks of impaired driving and make them understand that tragedy occurs when people make wrong choices.”
Impaired driving takes a huge toll on Canadian youth.
Nearly 50 per cent of all road crash deaths involving 15- to 24-year -olds are alcohol-related.
In 2009, approximately 350 young people were killed and 41,000 were injured in impairment-related crashes.
Also in 2009, 16-25- year-olds constituted just 13.7 per cent of the population, but accounted for nearly 31.1 per cent of all alcohol-related crash deaths.
Smashed will be presented to students on Oct. 29 at Lake City Secondary Williams Lake Campus at 12:30 p.m. We also encourage parents to come out and view the presentation.
Smashed is the story of teens Kelly, Natalie and Pete.
Three young friends heading to a typical school dance.
Natalie has a huge crush on the very popular, yet incorrigible Johnny, who tells her he’ll meet her there.
But as it turns out, Johnny has been drinking and is turned away from the school dance.
He invites Natalie and her two friends to a private house party instead and while Kelly and Pete don’t want to go, they do so because Natalie is so insistent.
The party is in full swing when they get there. Many of the teens are drinking and smoking pot. Johnny entices Natalie to drink; she has way too much and is no longer in control.
When Johnny leaves the party to get some more pot, drunken Natalie makes the terrible decision to go with him.
Her friends do everything they can to stop her from getting into his car, but fail.
Kelly calls 911 and she and Pete follow in her car. What happens next is a deadly twist of fate that nobody could predict.
Smashed is fiction. As impactful as it is, Kelly, Natalie, Pete and Johnny are just actors.
But next the video features real-life victims. Unlike the fictional drama, their stories are all too real.
The School Assembly Program has been a cornerstone of MADD Canada’s youth services since 1994.
More than one million students will seeSmashed across Canada during the 2013/14 school year.