Students clattered down the stone steps of Marian High School, chattering happily in the warm Thursday afternoon sunshine. But as they took in the scene in the parking lot, an eerie silence fell over the student body.

Those were their friends, one of them splayed across the hood of a crashed car, the others trapped in the crumpled vehicles. Soon they could hear the radio dispatches from Dan Markiewicz of the Schuylkill County 911 Center, asking for emergency response to 1 Marian Ave.It was all part of a mock crash, caused by impaired driving, set up by the Rush Township Police Department.Patrolman Adam Sinton, siren blaring and lights flashing, was first on the scene. He checked the pulse of the ejected driver, finding no response. He then checked the other three "victims.""It really started to hit home for me," said Kaylee Ceci, Hometown, one of the students.She portrayed a passenger in one of the vehicles."It started to scare me, to feel what it would be like to be a victim of an accident."As Sinton performed field sobriety tests on one of the "drivers," emergency vehicles and personnel from Hometown Fire Department and Ryan Township Ambulance rolled into action, operating the Jaws of Life to cut away the roof of one of the vehicles and loading the victims onto stretchers. Sinton and Rush patrolman Bradley Hess put handcuffs on the driver and loaded him into a police cruiser."I always wanted to put together something like this," said Rush Police Sgt. Duane Frederick. "I wanted to make this as realistic as possible, and everyone is doing a great job."Schuylkill County Deputy Coroner David Truskowsky loaded one of the victims into a body bag on a strecher, and placed him in the back of the SUV used by the department. As he did so, the MedEvac helicopter from Lehigh Valley Health Network landed in the grass in front of the school, and transferred one of the victims from an ambulance to the helicopter.Tamaqua's Magisterial District Justice Stephen J. Bayer "arraigned and charged" the impaired driver."It's good for the students to witness what actually happens if there's a crash," said Carol Alonge of the North Central Highway Safety Network, Pottsville. The Highway Safety Network presented a program on distracted driving at an assembly after the crash scene re-enactment."This is so much more realistic than anything they could see on television," she said.Students said that seeing their friends as crash victims gave the scene a greater impact."I think it was really effective," said senior Nick Sully of Jim Thorpe. "All of those people are friends of mine, and it made it more personal."The student victims are members of the school's Students Against Drunk Driving club."I think it's been a good experience for everyone to see this," said James Kolbush, McAdoo, who portrayed the student ejected from the vehicle. "It's important, especially with proms coming up, to remind kids what can happen."