Airmen learn dangers of distracted driving

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Victoria H. Taylor
  • 100 Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England-- --  Members of Team Mildenhall had the opportunity to witness a Street Smart presentation which displayed serious consequences that can result from driving distracted July 28, 2014, at the fitness center on RAF Lakenheath, England.

Street Smart, a program offered by Stay Alive from Education, helps educate young adults and teenagers about the traumatic injuries that can result from car crashes. The presenters identified drinking and driving, in addition to texting and not wearing a seatbelt, as the primary causes of motor vehicle-accident deaths, especially in drivers aged 18 to 26.

The program consists of 10 teams, each comprised of two firefighters who travel and brief military audiences, high school and college students. The program reaches more than 100,000 people a year.

For first-time attendee Airman 1st Class Zachary Schultz, 100th Logistics Readiness Squadron vehicle maintainer from Hutchinson, Minnisota, the hour-long presentation was blunt and filled with real-life depictions of accidents that recalled his memory to an earlier time.

"Three years ago, I was in a car accident where I was the only one who survived. Before that happened, I didn't really take driving as seriously as I do now," said Schultz. "Even though I had been through a traumatic accident, the course was eye-opening and taught me more than I had already known."

As a part of the presentation, participants were asked to come to the front of the auditorium and play the role of a victim in a traumatic car accident, which included being placed into a neck brace and strapped to a stretcher.

"Our approach is different. It shows if you make bad decisions, this is what happens," said Ronny Garcia, Street Smart presenter and paramedic with Tampa Florida Fire Rescue. "Most people don't have any idea what happens to them in a car accident, or what we, as paramedics, do to them."

Garcia has been a firefighter and paramedic with Tampa Florida Fire Rescue, for 30 years and a Street Smart presenter since 1999. He hopes his role in the program will help save lives.

"With this many years of experience, you strive to make a difference," said Garcia. "I travel in hope of making people think differently in the choices they make. If I can leave here with a sense of, 'Wow, we may have saved a life' -- that's why I love doing it."