The California Highway Patrol (CHP) along with ASB advisor Christine Vo hosted the anti-drunk driving Every 15 Minutes initiative last Wednesday and Thursday for the first time since 2019. A drunk driving collision was staged on Cameron Ave. on the first day and concluded with an assembly the next day.
According to the CHP, the program’s name comes from a statistic reporting that in the early 1990s, every 15 minutes someone died in a drunk driving related accident. CHP collaborated with local law enforcement, hospitals and businesses to make the event and along with this, the event was intentionally kept confidential from the student body to enhance the reality of the situation.
During first period on Wednesday, a gong sounded off every 15 minutes over the public announcement system (PA). The first gong went off around 8:35a.m., followed by an announcement detailing the statistic that every 15 minutes someone dies due to an alcohol related accident. A gong then continued sounding off every 15 minutes until 10:15a.m.
Instead of the usual morning announcements at the start of third period, juniors and seniors were dismissed from class to observe the collision on Cameron Ave. that required street closures from Lark Ellen to Fernwood from 9:30am-1:00pm after an imitation of a 911 call where someone had gotten into a accident was played over the PA system.
The crash simulation started with police officers, ambulances, and firefighters arriving at the scene. Beforehand, Vo had randomly selected students to participate in various roles for the simulation. Officers pulled these student participants out from the vehicle with the “suspected drunk driver” and delivered a field sobriety test. Some students “died”, were “arrested” or were “left injured”.
“When you go out and you kill somebody because you’ve been driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, it’s my job to review those cases and charge them appropriately,” Vannoy said.
After her presentation, Alex Negrete and Izabel Roman as well as senior Gavin Betancourt’s mother Monica Gutierrez and senior Graciela Jimenez’s father Moses Jimenez delivered speeches . The letters were written to their parents and the parents to their children from the perspective that they had actually died.
To end the assembly Lili Trujillo Puckett, founder of Street Racing kills, a nonprofit organization that raises awareness of illegal street racing and reckless driving among communities, shared her story of her daughter Valentina Alessandro who died at the age of 16 at the hands of an intoxicated driver who was street racing. Although Puckett still grieves her daughter, she hopes their story will save others.
“I can’t bring the past, but I can change your future,” Puckett said.
For this simulation, Vo asked 14 students to volunteer due to her belief their involvement could make an impact on campus.
“So there wasn’t, like, a specific GPA or any kind of standard like that. But the goal of the students or students election was basically, like, trying to hit every pocket of the school and trying to figure out who, basically, I guess you can say, like, has an influence on the school,” Vo said.
Through this selection, seniors Izabel Roman, Sophea Rios, Carlee Macias, Jacquelynn Barraza, Kaitlyn Vicario, Steven Julio, Gavin Betancourt, Alyssa Rocha, Isaiah Ruiz, Graciela Jimenez, Karissa Victoria, Jimross Cabrera, Alex Negrete, and Julio Lopez and junior Joseph Savoy were selected to participate in the program.
Some were actively involved in the crash, while others with skull-like makeup represented past deaths as the “living dead”. Math teacher Jason Heilman, and computer aided design and drafting teacher Justin Potts, dressed as grim reapers and followed students during the simulation to symbolize their deaths.
Roman, who played the role of drunk driver described the experience as interesting as it gave her some awareness of what it feels like to be in that position.
“I got to be breathalyzed, like actual live breathalyzed. I did a series of tests with the police officers, the Highway Patrol. I had to follow a finger, I had to walk a few steps in a straight line. And then what was really cool, actually, was that I got to put on, like, drunk, simulation goggles, so during the actual incident, that’s like, what I had to basically replicate in this scenario,” Roman said.
Negrette, who played the role of the living dead, participated due to his previous experience with an impaired driver.
“I’ve experienced, you know, being in a car with someone that you know was under the influence while driving, because they said they were fine. And I thought, You know what? ” I trust them enough they drive good when they’re sober, but, you know, it’s, it’s gambling at that point, and to be in a near collision like me personally, that’s why I really wanted to be a part of this program, because I, I thankfully, thank God, I wasn’t in an actual, you know, incident,” Negrete said.
Afterwards, the students were taken to Holiday Inn where they, led by Davila and Vo, English teacher Ludivina Magana and Kevin Quach, participated in reflective activities and learned more about the dangers of drunk driving.
Davila expressed that by participating, he aimed to prevent avoidable drunk driving incidents.
“We’re just trying to prevent that from ever happening to the student body here or anybody in the future, really,” Davila said.
Although the event was fully fabricated, students and teachers reported that it succeeded in showing students the seriousness of drunk driving. Magana expressed that it created unity between the community and brought awareness to the issue.
“It actually sparked a conversation. So my students did come back, and they asked me a little more information, did you know about this? Why didn’t you tell us about this before? But they were also curious to know what the consequences were on the law portion knowing that the group that partook in Every 15 Minutes was so diverse, it brought so many different groups of students together, and it just opened up those lines of communication and new friendships,” said Magana.
Despite the statistic decreasing from every 15 minutes to 39 minutes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the event emphasized that it’s still important for young drivers to practice safe and responsible driving.
