Brady Hix, Dalton Daily Citizen
Christian Heritage School sophomore Brady Brock thought hard about the faces of the actors and the adult spectators of a staged car crash Monday showing the terrible consequences of driving under the influence.
“Choices don’t just affect you, they affect others around you,” Brock said. “Especially seeing how the parents reacted, it made me realize it’s not just about me. It’s about the people that love me and care for me. How would that make them feel if I got into a crash or died while driving drunk? It really makes you feel less selfish about yourself.”
The scene was one of many scenarios of the Teen Maze, held each year at the North Georgia Fairgrounds to positively impact local high school sophomores, this year organized by the Dalton/Whitfield County Family Connection.
Students watched as volunteer actors portrayed people caught up in a car accident caused by an impaired driver. The scenario included full emergency response personnel arriving to the scene, including members of the Whitfield County Fire Department, the Dalton Police Department, Hamilton Emergency Medical Services and a Life Force helicopter from Erlanger hospital in Chattanooga.
“What we try to do is make this as real as we can possibly make it to allow these kids to see what can happen if they make bad choices, whether it be driving impaired or distracted driving,” said Lt. Jesse Bond with the Whitfield County Fire Department. “We try to send a message and put it right in front of their face, and open their eyes to these bad decisions.”
Bond said the Teen Maze is a perfect opportunity to warn students who are at a pivotal time in their life of the dangers that come with driving.
“This age group is vulnerable,” he said. “They can be influenced to make these bad choices, so by them coming out here and seeing this crash scene firsthand, we hope that it helps influence them in the right direction. Not to drive impaired, but to drive safely.”
Helping the ‘future generation’ Playing the role of the impaired driver for the second year in a row was Aiden Longobardo, a senior at Southeast Whitfield High School.
“Stuff like this happens just about every day and people lose their lives to it constantly,” Longobardo said. “It really resonated with me that being in that role could help someone or perhaps strike fear into them to not do this down the road. I just want to help.”
Longobardo said he has enjoyed volunteering to help keep younger students from making bad decisions behind the wheel.
“They’re the future generation,” he said. “It would (be horrible) to lose them in an accident like this because they may have had too much fun one night and got careless. It can cost you your life.”
The students also heard from guest speakers, including Whit Lofty, Chris Sandy and Eric Krug, who spoke on the consequences of driving under the influence and drug use, before branching off to five locations focusing on potential outcomes from the crash. Lofty, of Dalton, has participated in the Conasauga Drug Court (Whitfield and Murray counties). Sandy was arrested several years ago for driving under the influence for a wreck that killed an elderly couple. Krug was the victim of a different drunk driver.
“Those (locations) include an impaired driving course, which could be under any kind of influence, not necessarily alcohol,” said lead coordinator Malisa Pedro with the Dalton/Whitfield County Family Connection. “Then there’s distracted driving, an (emergency room) section where students witness an attempt to resuscitate a drunk driving victim, a funeral and juvenile court.”
The importance of good choices Sophomores then take part in the “choices” portion of the Maze, where they are scripted for situations dealing with good and bad choices, including graduating from high school, teen pregnancy or contracting a sexually-transmitted disease.
This year’s Teen Maze was the first for Pedro as lead coordinator. Pedro said she has been working “behind the scenes” on the Maze since May.
“I feel like it’s a great message to get across to these teenagers as they’re approaching the (age) that they’ll start driving,” she said. “I know that they’re going to be faced with these decisions and I’m hoping that this will just open up their minds to the fact that every decision has a consequence, whether positive or negative.”
Pedro said the Teen Maze serves sophomores from area schools including from Whitfield County Schools, Dalton Public Schools, Murray County Schools and Christian Heritage School. Approximately 2,200 students are expected to take part this year with the Maze continuing through Friday.
“We have over 200 volunteers that come out from the community to be a part of this event, from our first responders to our hospital,” Pedro said. “We have people from (the Georgia Division of Family & Children Services), people from the (county) health department and Drug Court, and other local volunteers as well. We couldn’t make this event possible without them. This is something that they’re very passionate about.”
Brady Brock, 16, said he’s learning how to drive.
“This really opened my eyes to the dangers of drunk driving or driving over the speed limit and reckless driving,” he said. “It also has made me more aware of the dangers of other people on the roads.”
Fellow sophomore Blake Williams said it was “scary” seeing one of her “worst fears” come to life during the car crash scene.
“I would hate for that to happen to me or somebody I know,” she said. “It’s kind of scary to think that that could happen. and then listening to the pastor talk during the funeral and hearing about your loved one potentially dying is sad to think about because your life can really change in a minute because you or somebody made a bad decision.”
A ‘real-life’ experience Eleanor David, a 10th-grader at Christian Heritage, said the Maze “really opened (her) eyes.”
“I didn’t really think about how distracted driving kills so many people yearly,” she said. “And a lot of them are teenagers. That definitely stuck out to me and made me more aware.”
David said she has never seen a car wreck.
“I think it was a really good depiction of what could happen and it probably affected a lot of other people as well,” she said. “It definitely helped make me realize this actually is real life and you don’t always just hear the stories. It’s a real problem and this is very important to be able to learn and understand why there are rules and why we need to follow them and be safe.”
She said the distracted driving course, which focused on the dangers of looking at a cellphone or other device while driving, was impactful.
“I only have my (learners) permit, so I haven’t really started driving by myself yet,” David said. “The course definitely taught me how to be more aware, pay attention and be more safe.”
Brady Brock said reading about the effects of driving under the influence online and in books doesn’t compare to seeing it firsthand.
“All the demonstrations really put it into visual form,” he said. “Because you always read ‘Don’t drink and drive’ and ‘Don’t do drugs.’ But out here, I realized it could really happen to me. It puts it into perspective.”
He said the Maze will impact how he handles situations from now on.
“Especially when it comes to the small stuff,” he said. “Like texting and driving. It’s like ‘Oh, I’ll just send a quick little text’ or ‘I’ll look down to skip this song real quick. It’ll be fine.’ But that could have a pretty big effect on you and I’d rather not take that risk.”
