FORT MYERS, Fla. — Fort Myers police are taking a proactive approach to preventing impaired driving by bringing the harsh realities of drunk driving crashes directly to local high schools, just as homecoming season approaches.
The Fort Myers Police Department partnered with Mothers Against Drunk Driving to present at Fort Myers High School, with plans to visit Dunbar High School next. The timing is intentional – police want students to understand the dangers of impaired driving before homecoming festivities begin.
As part of the hard-hitting presentation, police displayed a severely damaged mock DUI vehicle in the student parking lot, ensuring every student driving into school would see the mangled wreckage as a stark visual reminder of impaired driving consequences.
"When the students come into the school, they have to see this car, and as you're leaving, they also will have to see this car. We're hoping that it serves as a visual deterrent to not drink," said Sergeant Jose Gomez with the community engagement bureau.
"This weekend is Fort Myers High School's homecoming event. We realize that, even though they shouldn't, but sometimes people do drink and drive, and this is hopefully a deterrent from people drinking and driving," Gomez said.
At the center of the presentation is Sophia Snyder, now 24, who survived a devastating head-on collision with a wrong-way drunk driver when she was a senior in high school in Pennsylvania.
"It was horrific. It was traumatizing. I have to live with the consequences of somebody else's choice each and every single day," Snyder said.
The crash left Snyder with severe injuries that required extensive medical treatment and rehabilitation. She suffered an open compound fracture in her left femur, meaning the bone broke so hard it broke through her skin. She also had a shattered right kneecap, fractures in her right hand and wrist, a spinal fracture in her lower back, and a concussion.
"I was initially hospitalized for about a month having those initial surgeries, and then I had to go to physical therapy for, I want to say, eight months following that car crash," Snyder said.
Her recovery took approximately two years, including multiple surgeries and procedures. A couple of years after the initial crash, she required another surgery to remove metal hardware from her femur.
Now working with MADD, Snyder shares her story to educate students about the preventable nature of impaired driving crashes.
"We at MADD believe that impaired driving is a decision, and it is a 100% preventable decision," Snyder said.
The educational program covers how alcohol, cannabis, medications and other mind-altering substances affect a person's ability to operate a motor vehicle safely, impacting judgment and motor skills essential for driving.
For Snyder, seeing the damaged vehicle displayed in the parking lot brings back memories of her own crash.
"My car pretty much looked almost identical to the one that is behind me, because it was a head on collision, so the front of my car was totally smashed," Snyder said.
The initiative comes as the Fort Myers Police Department continues to prioritize traffic safety. While the department has not seen an increase in drunk driving incidents locally, officials say even one death is too many.
"The country suffers about 10,000 plus deaths a year due to DUI crashes," Gomez said. "Our chief always preaches that traffic safety is public safety, so we're taking this as serious as we can."
Students have responded positively to the presentations, asking questions about Snyder's personal story and how substances can impair driving ability.
"They're seeming very engaged in the conversations. They asked me a lot of questions about my own personal story," Snyder said. "I think that they're internalizing the information that I give to them and that they're gonna use it to make good choices in the future."
This marks the first time the Fort Myers Police Department has hosted this type of campaign, representing a new approach to preventing impaired driving among young people.
"We're trying to be more aggressive and come up with new ideas and new ways that we can try to approach this problem," Gomez said. "Whatever we need to do to keep these kids alive, is what we want to do."
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