"What's this for?" asked a Southland student.

"Did somebody die?" asked another as he walked onto the parking lot outside the school.

Students were excused from class at Southland High School in Adams and led to a parking lot where a red Buick seemed to have broad-sided a mini-van. Fellow students sat in the cars, one sprawled across the hood. TV cameras were taping and a Tom Overlie, from KTTC was standing nearby with a microphone.

The "accident" wasn't real, but set up by Southland Students Against Destructive Decisions or SSADD. The students and their adviser planned the mock crash to show students what can happen if that make poor decision while driving.

During the exercise, two of the students were arrested -- they had been drinking alcohol.

A baby was thrown from a car -- she was not strapped into her car seat.

A motorcyclist sustained serious injuries -- he was not wearing a helmet.

Another student was thrown from a car -- he was not wearing his seat belt.

Southland students weren't told about the program, only that what they were going to see wasn't real. All of the actors in the program were Southland students in SSADD.

"They kept it a surprise," said ninth-grader Brock Nelson.

SSADD had been planning the exercise since the end of last school year after it received a grant from AAA. Law enforcement, emergency medical technicians, firefighters, a pastor and even Mayo One were a part of the mock crash.

"The preparations for this is simply phenomenal," Nelson said just before one of the students ran screaming to blame the "drunken driver" for the crash.

"That's good acting," Nelson said.

Bobby Learmont, 14, thought the program was "different."

"You don't see this everyday," Learmont said.

The program was planned to coincide with Homecoming Week, so that students think about their actions over the weekend.

Jodi Bromland, SSADD adviser and Southland counselor, said alcohol use is a problem at every high school and Southland is no different. She and the group wanted to show the consequences of drinking and driving, along with other unsafe behavior, such as not wearing a seat belt.

"We hope it's a learning experience for them," she said.

For some, the exercise was a little too familiar, students Alyssa O'Connell and Amber Howe, were involved in a car accident -- unrelated to alcohol -- last year.

"It brought back memories," Howe said, as she wiped away tears and put her arm around O'Connell to comfort her.

Even for those never involved in an accident, the exercise seemed to be effective.

Senior Traci Kelley said she thought it was scary. Nelson thought the program got its point across.

"It hits close to home because you know the people," he said.

Cari Quam can be reached at 434-2235 or by e-mail at :mailto:cari.quam@austindailyherald.com