Oct. 29, 2009

Westchester County is offering high school students the chance to visit the morgue to see the brutal consequences of a drinking and driving as part of a new program called No Second Chances that tries to impress on teens the seriousness of DWI and other risky behaviors.

On Thursday, Oct. 29 students from White Plains High School became first high school students in the county to participate in the program held at the county’s Medical Examiner’s Office in the Department of Labs and Research in Valhalla.

No Second Chances, which has been in the making for more than a year, simulates for teens the grim task police and the medical examiner’s staff face as they investigate a fatal DWI accident. What is it like to work at a fatal accident scene? To notify a family that a loved one has died in an accident? What is it like to be horribly disfigured in a DWI accident or to have to perform an autopsy on a crash victim? Teens are exposed to this grisly world through live presentations, videos and a tour of the autopsy room.

“At this time of year as we approach the holiday season there is the potential for serious harm from drinking and driving, we think that this is the perfect time to spread this message to a larger audience,’’ said County Executive Andy Spano. “People of all ages should see the very graphic consequences of drinking and driving because in real life people die and there are no second chances.’’

White Plains Superintendent of Schools Dr. Christopher Clouet said that White Plains was happy to be the first school district to send students to participate in the program. 
“The White Plains School District is proud to be part of this program,’’ said Dr. Clouet.  “Given the recent highway tragedies in our region, educating our children about this crucial issue can only help them. It is never too early to teach our kids about the dangers of drinking and driving.” 

A joint program developed by the county’s Communications, Probation, Public Safety and Labs and Research departments, No Second Chances is a carefully scripted look at what happens when there is a fatal DWI accident.

Young people get to see what a serious crash looks like and hear from police about the carnage they witness while trying to treat the victims and recover the dead.
On video, they also hear from the father of a DWI victim who talks about the years of mental anguish he has suffered as a result of his daughter’s senseless death. Another video documents the life of a young woman who is horribly disfigured when a drunk driver rams into the car she is riding in. Three of her friends are killed and she suffers third-degree burns to 80 percent of her body for which she has to undergo more than 40 operations only to be left without hands, eyelids, nose, ears and most of her face. 

“We have tried to make this as realistic as possible for these young people,’’ said Probation Commissioner Rocco Pozzi, who is one of the program presenters. “We have had some powerful reactions from focus groups of young people who have participated.’’

The program has been offered to teens on probation, who made up the initial focus group.

Spano said that he wrote a letter to school districts in September offering them the opportunity to have high school juniors and seniors participate. So far, 13 school districts have signed up for the program, which is presented twice monthly. 

In Westchester County in 2007, the latest figures available, there were 16,660 accidents. 426 crashes were alcohol related and 6 were fatal. Young drivers, ages 15- to 20-years old, are especially vulnerable to death and injury on roadways – traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers in America. Mile for mile, teenagers are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers.