18 - Wednesday, April 7, 1999 - North Shore News Car crashes continue te Sarah Woodend Contributing Writer WHEN Jamie Watson found out three of his friends had died in a car accident he chuck- led, not because it was funny, but because he was in shock. The last thing he remembers saying to them was “don’t crash.” “T felt this overwhelming emptiness, like a giant piece of my life was gone,” he said. Watson and two survivors of the crash shared their sto- ries with fellow Grade 1} and 12 students during an assem- bly about irresponsible dri- ving on Wednesday at Sutherland secondary school. According to ICBC public affairs spokesman Sam Thiara, car crashes are the number one killer of youths in B.C, Those between ages 13 and 25 are at the greatest risk. The accident which killed Wartson’s friends did not involve alcohol. On September 6, 1997 six youths set out for Princeton with ail the makings of a great fishing trip. Andrew Hahn remembers sitting in the back scat of the Suburban playing cards. He looked up and saw the driver, his brother Chris, glance at a map. As he did so he lost con- trol of the vehicle and plum- meted down a 300-foot cliff at 100 km per hour. Jason Maudslay, who suf- fered a cracked pelvis, crawled from the car and managed to pull Hahn and Bill Hallock out. They were the only three who survived. The assembly was orga- nized by the school’s Counter Attack Club (CAC) who also invited Vancouver regional coroner Jeannine Robinson and Thiara to speak. A graphic video, put out by ICBC which is regularly edi ake aif JASON Maudslay (left to right), Andrew Hahn and Jamie Watson took part in a Counter Attack Club assembly at Sutherland secondary school Friday. Maudslay and Hahn survived a car crash eighteen months ago that claimed the lives of three friends. used at presentations in Greater Vancouver, was also shown. The video shows Dr. Bruce Campana and Vancouver coroner Larry Campbell talking to students about the realities of drinking and driving. Campana says a person’s risk of car accident increases seven times with a blood alcohol level at the legal limit of .08. Ar twice the legal limit, an accident is 100 times more likely to happen. He explains, in detail, what a person goes through when brought to the cmer- gency room of a hospital after a crash while brutal images flash across the screen. Then Campbell talks about the assault to the sens- es he experiences when he goes to a crash scene—sparks, flashing lights, screams. He Th says the smell of antifreeze reminds him of death. Campbell goes on to explain what it’s like to teil parents that their son or daughter has died as 2 result of a uscless crash. He