May 25, 2013

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Reporter: Natalie Swaby

Drinking and Driving Demo Targets Madison Teens

Video will be available shortly.

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Crashed cars and high school students covered in blood -- police are first on the grizzly scene that claims one life and injures two others. Fortunately, this is only a demonstration, but unfortunately, scenes like this are all too common, especially this time of year.

"Do you plan to drink," asks Reporter Natalie Swaby.

"No," responds senior Justin Russell. "I will have other people in the car with me, and I think it would be unfair to them."

Junior Briana Schuler adds, "friends will be like come on, come on do this, it will be fun, but I'm totally fine with saying no."

When asked if he expects alcohol to apart of the end-of-year celebrations, senior Chris Bjorling answers, "yeah, I expect alcohol to pretty much be at any party you go to."

Freshman Midora Slaughter admits, "if I am with someone that I know is not going to drink, and I'm going to get home safely, I will have a drink."

For the kids that do drink and drive sometimes Med Flight becomes their form of transportation. The worst months for first responders are April, May, and June.

"There is a lot of celebrating going on with prom and graduation and firefighters see the end result," tells Lori Wirth of the Madison Fire Department.

In regards to Friday's demonstration, West High School Principal Ed Holmes says, "this is part of the educational process. I think this is one of the most effective types of learning experiences that you can have."

Statistics from 2003 show 705 youth under age 21 died in alcohol related crashes during April, May, and June in the United States. 65% of students polled for a study said they were able to get alcohol from friends and family.

Prom is coming up for many area high schools, and the students that told NBC 15 that they plan to drink also said today's demo has made them think about finding a safe ride home.


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