Olivia Smyth, 11, a student at Beach Elementary School, gets instructions Saturday about using the Jaws of Life from firefighter Robert Stelzer III at the Chelsea Area Fire Authority fire station.

Lisa Allmendinger | AnnArbor.com

Howard Cooper, 14, of Chelsea, was one of about a dozen youths who got a firsthand look Saturday at the work firefighters must do to extract a passenger from a car using the Jaws of Life as part of an anti-drunken driving program in Chelsea.

One out of every two people will be involved in some type of auto accident during their lifetime, and about 86 percent of people know someone who was killed by a drunken driver, said Fire Capt. Chris Smyth, who put together a presentation for the SRSLY group Saturday night at the Chelsea Area Fire Authority fire station.

SRSLY is text-message slang for SERIOUSLY, said Reiley Curran, the coalition coordinator for the community group, which aims to prevent “destructive behavior in Chelsea youth.”

According to the group’s website, participants work together to change the community in ways that will make it “more likely that kids will make positive, healthy choices, and stay away from drugs and alcohol.”

The effort is geared toward youth ages 10 to 15.

As part of the special event, participants were offered a chance to operate one of the fire authority's Jaws of Life instruments to cut up a donated car and experience what firefighters go through at an accident scene.

“It was pretty sweet, pretty heavy and had a lot of power,” Howard said of his experience using the Jaws of Life.

Mya Stelzer, 11, operates the Jaws of Life to cut up a car with the help of her father, firefighter Robert Stelzer III. The demonstration was part of a SRSLY event.

Lisa Allmendinger | AnnArbor.com

For Devin Wild, 15, of Chelsea, the presentation was “pretty amazing.

"I’ve never seen anything like that and I didn’t think cars could be that smashed up,” Devin said.

Smyth told the group that it’s not just alcohol or bad judgment that causes car wrecks.

“Cell phone usage while driving causes more accidents than drunk driving,” he said.

Some 19,000 people age 15 to 19 died from drunken driving last year in the U.S., Smyth told the group, with males making up about 12,500 of the deaths and females, 6,500.

He said about 2,000 people a month are killed nationally in drunken driving accidents a year. That's one life almost every 20 minutes.

“It’s not just the person who is intoxicated,” he said. “It’s everyone they involve when they hit another vehicle or a school bus or whatever. A lot of times, drivers walk away.”

The event at the fire department is just one of many that SRSLY has hosted each year since its inception in 2008.

Lisa Allmendinger is a reporter with AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. For more Chelsea stories, visit our Chelsea page.