Annual Program Gives Teens Dose of Grim Reality

There’s a difference between scare tactics and harsh reality. The Every 15 Minutes program uses a combination of both to warn teenagers about the potentially lethal consequences of intoxicated or distracted driving.

“The reality is that it could be you. Drunk driving can impact their lives and the lives of those they care about” said Gayle Losch of Vista del Lago High School in Folsom, California, who has coordinated the “Every 15 Minutes” program for the school for several years.

The “Every 15 Minutes” program revolves around a dramatized drunk driving crash involving students of the participating high school. Students fill various roles of victims, perpetrators and bystanders and the drama unfolds before the entire school.

Public and private high schools across the country participate in the program designed to bring students face-to-face with the consequences of drunk driving.

The program’s name comes from statistics regarding the rate at which teenage drivers were involved in drunken driving crashes across the nation. Because of awareness efforts and enhanced penalties for drunk driving, the rate of teenagers involved in drunken driving accidents has steeply declined.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that drunk driving rates among teenagers are down 54 percent since 1991.

Despite the positive trend, Losch understands work still needs to be done. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently found teens are turning to prescription pills and marijuana before getting behind the wheel.

Losch is incorporating narcotics and distracted driving to her “Every 15 Minutes” presentation in order to reach more students.

“We’re trying to reach them,” she said. “It’s all about making them wiser.”

Key components of the “Every 15 Minutes” program include:

• A dramatization of a drunken driving crash on the campus of the participating high school.
• Students play various roles, including victim, bystander and drunken driver.
• Students who are arrested go through a booking process at the county jail. They are photographed, finger-printed and placed in a holding cell.
• The students who “die” in the crash must write their own obituary and participate in a one-night retreat away from their parents.
• The next day the entire school participates in a lecture featuring a mock funeral and testimonials from participating students.