Students at Red Hill High School in Lawrence County witnessed a mock accident on Monday designed to highlight the dangers of reckless driving.

Bridgeport emergency responders joined several agencies to stage a crash involving serious injuries and a fatality. The demonstration was held ahead of homecoming week as a reminder of the consequences of impaired or distracted driving.

Bridgeport Fire Chief Rick Leighty said the goal is to help students resist temptations and make safe choices. “We just try to give them a little bit of boost and say, don’t do the drugs, don’t do the drinking and don’t text drive. I hope we got a little emotion in them. When they’re driving and see a text on the phone, hopefully they’ll pull to the side of the road or go to a parking lot. Anything we can do to get them to put stuff down,” Leighty said.

Participating agencies included the Bridgeport, Lawrence-Allison, and Christy Fire Departments, Lawrence County Ambulance Service, Bridgeport Police, the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office, and the AirEvac Life Team.