'It's 100% preventable': Program gets students up close and personal with DUI crashes

Angela Guglielmino, Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.
Updated ·2 min read

May 1—According to the United States Department of Transportation, about 32% of all traffic crash fatalities in the United States involve drunk drivers.

Despite any statistics, you might not assume that the topic of drunk driving will end up personally impacting you. So, to go beyond just words, a program that targets high schoolers, Every 15 Minutes, shows the devastation that drunk driving can cause.

Painting the picture, a dramatic scene was staged in front of Sutter Union High School in Sutter on Wednesday with the Every 15 Minutes program.

Cars were staged to simulate the aftermath of a mock scenario where a drunk driver sped through a stop sign and hit another car as a result — this simulation involved fake death and blood. A Grim Reaper, played by Gerald Odor, even circled around the collision as a student's body lay limp through a car's windshield. First responders acted in the simulation as if this were a real scene: they addressed wounds and cleared the scene.

The Every 15 Minutes program was brought to Sutter Union High School with the help of Office of Traffic Safety financing through the California Highway Patrol to inspire students to make mature decisions. Stacy Runyan, the president of a nonprofit dedicated to supporting law enforcement, Back the Badge, Yuba Sutter, also said that Back the Badge helped sponsor the event.

"The program brings together a broad coalition of interested local agencies with the goal of reducing alcohol-related incidents among youth. The partnering of the California Highway Patrol, local law enforcement, local hospitals, emergency medical responders, schools, businesses, and service clubs validates the importance of working together to ensure a healthy community," according to the California Highway Patrol webpage about Every 15 Minutes.

A parent at the event, Jodie Fairbanks, said that her child is a senior at Sutter Union High School who acted as someone who died in Wednesday's simulation.

"(If this situation were real) it would break me in half," Fairbanks said. "It would destroy me to watch these kids go through this, knowing that it's 100% preventable."

Fairbanks said that all of the students who were involved with the crash scene are getting notifications sent home to their parents about how they died. Then the involved students will also go to a retreat after school, and only reunite with their parents at an assembly the next day.

The event also included the walking dead. Students in the walking dead group wear gaunt makeup and are supposed to act absent for 48 hours.

"I think it puts into perspective (how frequently) someone is killed from a DUI crash," Fairbanks said.