San Andreas, CA — A program to caution students against drunk driving is taking place at Calaveras High School and is hitting home for some students.
The Every 15 Minutes Program demonstrates that there is someone killed every 15 minutes in America from a drunk driving incident.
It began Wednesday morning with a mock accident on the high school football field. The crash scene was all too real with injured victims still in the vehicles.
A CHP siren sounds and emergency crews converge on the scene. One by one the victims are pulled from the vehicles with the grim reaper overlooking.
A female teenager is identified as the drunk driver and is arrested. Her friends were taken to the hospital but the occupants of the other car were not as lucky. A mom and dad lost their infant child.
Throughout the day Wednesday students will be pulled from their classes every 15 minutes to drive home the message. Mock funerals will take place on Thursday.
For one student, the demonstration was close to real life. 17-year old Katelyn Morock attended the event with her mom because nearly two years ago she herself was a victim of a drunk driving accident. Katelyn, now a sophomore, has since recovered from her injuries but suffered the loss of her grandfather in the crash. She and her mom remained at the mock crash site far after the students had gone back to class.
“It´s an emotion no parent should have to go through,” Katelyn´s mom Melissa Walraven says.Unless you´ve lived it, you don´t understand it.”
Written by Vanessa Turner.
This post was last modified on 01/31/2009 1:48 pm