RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA : Acting Out a Sobering Reminder

Like generations before them, many of the 1,500 Santa Margarita High School students roared with laughter Thursday as adults tried to send a somber message about drunk driving.

But unlike the flat, one-dimensional training films shown to their parents, a blood-splattered accident scenario was acted out live for students, complete with smashed automobiles, police cars and ambulances.

Although some students found the performance hard to take seriously, the grim message got through to others.

“I can’t imagine how you couldn’t see the reality here,” said Josh Beckett, a sophomore who plays on the school football team. “This is amazing. It tells me that drinking and driving is pretty stupid.”

The crash scene was orchestrated by Friends Against Drinking and Driving, a nonprofit organization run by Orange County firefighter Steve Concialdi. Backed by dozens of volunteers from local hospitals, police and fire departments, the group puts together a gruesomely accurate depiction of an alcohol-caused fatal traffic accident.

Since 1990, FADD has visited high school campuses throughout Orange County, aiming for the crucial period before prom night, a traditional evening of celebration for juniors and seniors. Thursday’s event was the seventh program put on by FADD this school year.

The accident scene is laid out on the football field. Two wrecked cars filled with student actors are covered with tarps as the entire student body files in and sits down around the scene.

Laughter erupts when the tarps are lifted and bloodied, dazed teen-agers stagger out of the cars as the staged accident unfolds. But many students begin staring intently as fire engines, ambulances and police cars pull up, lights and sirens blaring, and professional rescuers start doing a job they have repeated too many times in real life.

For a few observers, the realism is too much. As the student actors scream in pain and terror while being treated by paramedics, one young man standing in back of the assembly turns away, his eyes filled with tears.

“I just know someone who was hurt real bad like this,” said the student, who asked not to be identified. “I wasn’t there, but I’m sure this is just what it was like.”

Emmy Day, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Fire Department, said she was not bothered by the laughter.

“We know we’re not going to reach some of the students,” she said. “But this might just make some of them think twice about drinking on prom night. And that’s what makes the program worthwhile.”