The Devil's Lake Journal (ND)
By Novina West
Thursday, Nov. 16, 2006

Drugs and alcohol impair judgment causing young ladies to jump head first into empty swimming pools and professional men to lose appendages in power equipment. A person ejected from a vehicle because they are not wearing their seatbelt is 25 times more likely to die in a car accident.

These are a few of the points impressed on students at both Lake Region State College and Devils Lake High School this past Wednesday during the presentation "Street Smart." Jerome Wholesale sponsored the program.

Scott McIntyre and Chris Stocks are part of a larger team of firefighter paramedics from Florida. The men formed the program in response to some of the gruesome accidents that they have been called to. They wanted to get this
information to young people because they are in the highest percentage of deaths in our country.

McIntyre says after the show "We want kids to see that it doesn't just happen at prom time." He goes on to add that traffic fatalities don't care about gender, nationality or time of day. Anybody can die anytime.

The program itself is quite graphic. Images of traffic accidents are shown along with clear descriptions of what happens during and immediately after an accident. A volunteer is strapped to a backboard, placed in a neck brace,
taped, and has numerous pieces of equipment draped over him to simulate his trip to the E.R.

All the excuses that people come up for why they don't bother to wear their seatbelts are dispelled with more images and descriptions. "I drive a big SUV. I won't even notice if somebody bumps into me," quotes Stocks then shows an image of an overturned cement truck ("the biggest thing on the road") accompanied by its driver nearby draped with a sheet.

At the end of the program Stocks asks for a show of hands of how many were touched by a traffic fatality. Several hands went up across the gym. He tells them that if they ask again next year it is likely that at least five more
hands will go up. Then he tells them "In a room this size the odds are that two of you will die in a traffic fatality," if they don't want it to be them, their best chance of survival is to wear their seatbelt.