What looked like a terrible accident Thursday morning at Wayland High School was actually a staged presentation designed to prevent a terrible accident.

Members of the Wayland Fire and Police departments were joined by local clergy and an employee from John C. Bryant Funeral Home Thursday morning to present a mock accident for students at Wayland High School.

The accident was staged in front of the school just two days before the WHS Junor Prom.

The scene featured student actors interacting with real-life Wayland officials and employees to put on a demonstration of what can happen when students drink and drive or otherwise make poor decisions and get behind the wheel.

Throughout the 40-minute presentation, Wayland Fire Chief Vinnie Smith narrated the events as first responders cut away the roof of one car, removed victims from both vehicles involved and covered a “deceased” victim with a sheet.

Wayland Firefighter Bill Leone was a student in the Wayland High School class of ’84, the class responsible for founding Students Against Drunk Driving (now Students Against Destructive Decisions, S.A.D.D.). Leone explained that one of his classmates was killed in vehicle accident, leading classmates to found the now national organization.

Leone, a 17-year veteran of the Wayland Fire Department, spearheaded efforts to create the mock accident program. He said it has been conducted about six times now, once every two years. This was the first year it has been conducted on the campus of the new high school.

“Once people saw the enormity of it, they wanted it again,” Leone said of getting the program going. “If you get one kid to be smart, than we’ve done something good.”