“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” is a show that takes ordinary or run down homes and fixes them up for families in need. When the home is done with its makeover, the host, Ty Pennington gathers up the family behind buses. The grand reveal comes after the crowd shouts “Move that Bus!” revealing the newly finished house to the family. A similar vibe of anticipation was felt in the Cannon Falls Parking lot on May 3. With 4 yellow school buses lined up, the crowd of high schoolers eagerly awaited to see what hid behind them. While the actors got ready, the narrator, Jeromy Mouw, brought down 3 participants: Grace Foster, Mason Stevens, and Elliot Bowman, to see who the fastest Snapchatter was. The mood quickly changed afterwards, when Mouw explained the dangers of texting, or snapchatting, and driving, and how far one can travel in the span of just 5 seconds while going 65 miles per hour. This was all a part of the 2018 version of the Mock Crash, put on by the Cannon Falls emergency services crew in advance of the spring prom.

With everyone ready, it was finally time to move the buses to reveal not a house, but a tragic accident. Mock crash 2018 started with a faux 911 call from Molly Bowen. On the ground, seemingly dead, lay Kaly Banks. Kara Loeschke was posed partially ejected from her vehicle, and in the back seat of the same vehicle sat Grace Hall, trying to pry the door open. The rest of the actors were standing up and walking, including Grant Schlichting, Maddie Siebenaler, and Riley Meyers. As the police rolled in, the narrator noted how much time had passed. The policeman went to check on those who were ejected from the cars first, checking to see if they were still alive. After that had been done, he proceeded to ask those who were standing and conscious what had happened. Several minutes later the ambulance, fire department, state patrol, and two more police personnel arrived and immediately began performing their assigned tasks. State Patrol began marking off the scene with road chalk, the EMTs began to check on Hall and Loeschke, and the police took away the drunk driver (Siebenaler). Once they were sure that Hall and Loeschke were fully protected from glass and metal shards, the firemen brought out the jaws of life and proceeded to cut the roof off the car in order to extract the two girls. It would be awhile before first responders got there, and nearly 45 minutes passed before the helicopter was able to arrive to airlift Loeschke to North Memorial Hospital.

While the scene was all staged, the message it carried was not. There was less of a stress this year on the drunk driving aspect and more on the distracted driving, as the narrator pointed out that people are now 6 times more likely to be hit by someone talking on their phone compared to someone under the influence of alcohol. Along with that, the drinking and driving deaths are the lowest since the 1950s due to the nearly 25,000 people who have been arrested for a DWI.

When asked how long it takes to put together the mock crash the narrator, Jeremy Mouw, responded with, “2-4 months, and it takes the cooperation of multiple organizations such as North Memorial for the helicopter, the funeral home, the state patrol, and we just have to hope that it’ll all come together.” The amount of effort that goes into making the mock crash is immense, however in the end the hope is that kids will make smart decisions. “I think there is a significant impact, and it can help contribute towards the zero death policy. I would attribute the low death rate this year to these demonstrations for sure,” Mouw continues. Even though there wasn’t a house hiding behind the school buses, there was a message there that needed to be conveyed. Hopefully the mock crash had an impact on the kids in the school, because in the end it is up to them to decide if they want to make the right decisions.