Hundreds attend Out of the Wreckage mock crash

The sound of glass and metal being crushed filled the air, followed by screams, shouts, sirens and helicopters.

A mother scooped up her child lying on the ground, clutched him and sobbed while teenagers just yards away begged emergency personnel arriving at the scene, “Help her! Help her!”

Behind the yellow tape, spectators watched the mock three-vehicle accident involving two cars and a motorcycle. Kids hugged their parents. Their parents clutched them back even tighter. Tears filled some of their eyes.

Hundreds of youngsters and adults attended the Out of the Wreckage mock crash Saturday, Aug. 17 at the Hillsboro Church of God. The second annual event began at 1 p.m. with music, videos and speakers, with the mock crash commencing at 5 p.m. Following the mock crash, a mock funeral was held.

“Driving is a big responsibility – you’re operating a 2,000 pound missile and you have to be careful,” Leesburg paramedic and firefighter Art Rigsby told those in attendance just prior to the mock crash. “You have to be careful; you always have to pay attention. When people are not giving their full attention to driving, that’s when crashes occur. And if you’re intoxicated, texting or distracted while driving, you are in a losing situation.”

Rigsby, who has been in the profession for nearly 20 years, said there is a simple equation when an accident occurs.

“Here’s the math: Your weight in pounds, times your speed squared, divided by 30. That math gives you the force in pounds you get hit with in a crash,” he said. “If you weigh 150 pounds and you’re going 60 miles per hour, you will hit with 18,000 pounds of force. Remember, that’s just you.

“Your 2,000-pound car going 60 miles per hour – hitting something will hit with 240,000 pounds of force.”

Rigsby then gave a more extreme example of an accident that occurred in Highland County more than a decade ago as he showed a photo of what used to be vehicle.

“This vehicle weighed roughly 2,000 pounds and was going approximately 140 miles per hour,” Rigsby said. “The vehicle struck a tree with about 1,306,667 pounds of force, tearing the car in half. One can only begin to imagine the kind of violent energy involved in these kinds of crashes.”

Rigsby, event organizer John Moore, also a Leesburg firefighter, and others told those in attendance that crashes happen every day and affect hundreds, if not thousands, of people just in Ohio.

“Accidents happen so fast,” Moore said. “And if this program helps save even one life, if it prevents one accident, this is all worth it.”

Rigsby added that good, sound decisions keep people safe.

“Good decisions keep you safe, they keep your friends safe – and people you never met,” he said. “Your decisions never affect just you. Your decisions affect you, everyone close to you and sometimes affect total strangers.

“Sometimes forever.”