Crash scene is shock treatment for teen offenders

By: Drivers.com staff
Date: 2000-03-10

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From a report in the London Daily Telegraph

Ten teenagers in Wales got a rather nasty shock as the made what they thought was a police-organized trip to an outdoor rehabilitation program. In the roadway, they came across the demolished remnants of an Alfa Romeo and a Montego, surrounded by broken glass and blood.

The bus in which the teens were riding had received a radio call diverting it to the accident on the outskirts of the town of Merthyr Tydfil. When they arrived at the scene, the teens were faced with firemen, paramedics, and what looked like severely injured passengers, some of whom were cousins or friends of the teens in the bus.

The group was informed immediately that the accident was a mock-up. But youth workers said they reacted as if they were at the scene of a real crash. Some tried to help the victims. Others became distressed or seemed numbed with shock said a newspaper report in the Daily Telegraph.

The fake crash was set up by South Wales police as a means of preventing the joy riders from repeating their offenses. The exercise was organised by the Oasis youth project following the deaths of two teenagers in a stolen car last year. It was the first time such shock tactics were used as a treatment for suspected joyrides, according to the police.

The parents of the teenagers, aged between 15 and 17, had signed consent forms and trauma counselors were on hand to talk to the youths, reported the Telegraph article. "The idea was to stop kids from stealing cars and driving dangerously, risking their own lives and members of the public," said one youth counselor.

One of the 16-year-old boys on the course said: "It was an awful shock and I started panicking straight away. I could see my cousin inside one of the cars and I will never forget that feeling."

However, not everyone agreed with the tactic as an educational measure. Keith Towler, a spokesman for the National Association for the Care and Rehabilitation of Offenders, criticised the use of shock tactics. "You have to question the exposure of youngsters to such a traumatic incident," he said. "Although trained counsellors were around to help, it was a risky and potentially dangerous approach."

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