Participants from ten different agencies
work together to keep the Prom Promise.

Recently, the Florida Highway Patrol was invited to be part of Lemon Bay High School's Prom Promise in Charlotte County, along with SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) and the Charlotte County Fire Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Team to help spread the word about the importance of wearing seat belts and not drinking and driving during prom. The program, established in late 1990 and hosted by several of the high schools in the county, the first of which is Lemon Bay High School, is designed to help raise awareness for the students about the consequences of not buckling up and the tragic dangers of drinking and driving.

The annual Prom Promise event includes a car crash reenactment of a full-blown traffic fatality scene that begins with the prom date getting picked up at home, and ends with the tragic crash. After the crash, students have the opportunity to experience FHP troopers in action as they respond to the scene along with EMS and Med Flight staff who try to save the crash victims' lives. Later, troopers have the unhappy task of notifying the next of kin and removing the bodies from the scene. The experience is an eye opener for some teens, hopefully causing them to think about what could happen. The mock-crash demonstration involves ten different agencies who work together to make this event a success each year.

After the demonstration, students are asked to sign the Prom Promise and read a special poem aloud to help remind them of the potential consequences of bad driving decisions. It is hoped that this event will continue to have an important impact on teen traffic fatalities during prom season in this part of the state.