The crushed car got plenty of attention as students arrived at Spanish Springs High School early Monday morning.
REMSA partnered with Zero Teen Fatalities and the high school to create a mock car crash scene to show the kids the consequences of distracted driving.
"Whether texting on phones or drinking and driving, with proms coming up right now, we want to make sure kids are not drinking and driving during prom season,” says Alan Tom of REMSA.
Spanish Springs High School Junior Caleb Barrett adds, "We have a mock car crash here just to show the students what the effect of it is.”
And to some degree it worked. Those walking and driving by the scene certainly noticed.
Tom has rescued teens who've experienced the real thing.
"The visual effects of seeing their friends inside the car, seeing the injuries that they've sustained from the major injuries, we hope that it'll bring back home that maybe we shouldn't be doing this."
"Some of the kids that looked at the mock car, saying 'oh, I guess this is what happens when you're an idiot while driving,'” says Barrett.
The biggest culprit these days is - you guessed it - texting while driving.
“You have a car that is several thousand pounds and by the time you look down and you look back up and the reaction time is seconds - you're not going to be able to stop, and the life you save could be your own, but you definitely want to take the lives of other people,” says Tom.
It's been proven time and time again, how easily young drivers get distracted, and texting is only one of the causes.
"Changing the song on the radio, or perhaps eating or if you have other friends in the car, that's a distraction,” says Barrett.
Spanish Springs High School is highlighting these risks and more over the next five days during Destructive Decisions week.
