Crime & Safety
Staged Accident Presentation To Return To Summit High School
Students will serve as actors in a staged accident to educate peers on the effects of distracted driving and driving under the influence.
SUMMIT, NJ – The Summit Police Department will be bringing back its One Moment 3 Decisions (OM3D) program, which includes a staged accident using student volunteers, to local high schoolers next week, city officials said.
With the goal of educating peers on the effects of distracted driving and driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, student volunteers will serve as actors in a staged scene in the high school parking lot, Summit officials said in a statement. An emergency response will follow from Summit Police Department, Summit Fire Department, Summit Volunteer First Aid Squad, and Atlantic Health paramedics. Authorities will then go through the process of notifying a victim’s parents and arresting the student driver responsible for the accident.
The scenes will be edited in a documentary style and will be shown as a short film to the junior and senior classes and faculty members in an assembly held on Wednesday, March 22, city officials said.
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The program was first held in 2016 and was expected to be held every two years, enabling each Summit High School class to experience it during their junior or senior year. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the program was last held in April 2019.
“We are very pleased to be bringing this program back this year,” Summit Police Chief Steven Zagorski said in a statement. “Though it can be difficult to witness, we feel that students at this age benefit from the experience. OM3D was designed as an immersive, hands-on program because as with many other life lessons and subjects, there’s only so much you can learn in a classroom; experience is the best teacher.”
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The video from the 2018 event can be viewed here. Viewer discretion is advised.
An increase in student parking on streets in the surrounding neighborhoods should be expected from Monday, March 20, through Wednesday, March 22 due to filming, city officials said. Parking Services will not be ticketing on nearby streets to allow for student parking.
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