‘Every 15 Minutes’ grabs, keeps teens’ attention with depiction of drunken driving consequences

Hooded figures and black-clad teenagers pulled back dark shrouds, unveiling the bloody spectacle of a head-on collision in Benicia High School’s upper parking lot Tuesday morning.

Some of the vehicles’ occupants wailed in pain and grief. One girl, wearing a bright red prom dress, lay silent and motionless halfway through the windshield of one of the cars.

The mangled vehicles were flanked by more students in white makeup and black T-shirts, representing youth killed in alcohol-related accidents.

No one died Tuesday at Benicia High — and the goal of the program, known as “Every 15 Minutes,” was to make such an impression on the Benicia and Liberty High students watching that future fatalities may be avoided, too.

The event, held every two years, simulated the aftermath of a fatal accident and featured the contributions of several local agencies, including Benicia’s police and fire departments and California Highway Patrol, whose members hope they can prevent students from driving while intoxicated or riding in a car driven by a drunken or drug-impaired driver.

Adding to the realism, coroners, ambulance drivers, employees of both Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health hospitals and other volunteers joined in, too. And a CHP helicopter whisked away one of the accident’s critically injured students, portrayed by senior Cassidy Tomsic.

Tim Rahill, Benicia Unified School District chief business officer, said participating agencies “spend weeks and months at meetings with the core group,” preparing for the event. This year, 84 students were chosen as dead and injured victims, as well as drivers.

The local program is funded through two $10,000 CHP grants, one for each of the two high schools, Rahill said. It is the seventh Every 15 Minutes staged in Benicia.

The program originated in Canada, then was picked up on Spokane, Wash., and introduced to California in 1995 by the Chico Police Department.

The program’s title gradually is becoming a misnomer, Benicia police Lt. Frank Hartig said. At one time, someone died from an alcohol-related vehicle collision every 15 minutes — but those numbers are dropping, he said.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has been reporting declines in drunken driving fatalities, from 12,998 in 2007 to 10,322 in 2012.

Each day of 2013, 28 people died from injuries sustained in drunken driving crashes, and someone was injured in such a crash every 90 seconds, the NHTSA recorded. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that in 2011, adults drove drunk about 112 million times in a year, almost 300,000 incidents of drinking and driving every day.

To Hartig, the improving numbers mean the message is getting through. But those statistics are just numbers on a page or computer screen, which is why his department and others join the Every 15 Minutes event every two years.

Getting students and others to participate is not a problem, Benicia High Vice Principal Ron Wheat said. “Once we make the selection, they are pounding on the door, saying, ‘I want to be in it,’” he said.

Early in Tuesday’s school session, Benicia and Liberty students saw classmates pulled from class by hooded Grim Reapers, some carrying red-streaked scythes. Students’ obituaries were read to their classes, and Benicia police officers notified the “dead” students’ parents.

Those “living dead” students later lined the upper parking lot area where the accident was staged. They would not return to class that day, nor were they supposed to speak to others.

Behind them, sitting on the ground and in the elevated bleachers, the rest of the students of both schools watched as the scenario played out. Most were silent.

“I like to see the commitment of the students,” Hartig said. “It’s not joking. They appreciate the role of the players.”

A loudspeaker broadcast frantic 9-1-1 calls from accident victims as well as dispatchers’ responses. Bleeding but mobile occupants of both cars shouted accusations at each other.

Police and fire personnel radios also broadcast on the loudspeaker, acknowledging they and a Medic ambulance were on their way. Those vehicles pulled into the parking lot, lights and sirens on.

“One unresponsive,” one officer quickly told dispatchers as police assessed the scene. “One DOA. One critical. One minor injuries,” he said.

“Stay with me,” one firefighter encouraged an “injured” passenger. He reassured the victim that the loud noise simply was an extraction tool being used to free the rider from the crumpled metal that trapped a door shut.

“One has airway issues, but I have a good pulse,” an emergency responder reported.

Sometimes the “victims” don’t make it, according to the script. Michelle Minahen played one such victim, who hadn’t worn a seat belt and died after crashing headfirst through a windshield. She spent much of the event with her body shielded from view by a yellow covering.

Autumn Bradley portrayed the intoxicated driver of the car in which Cassidy had been riding. Autumn stumbled through a failed a field sobriety test administered by Benicia Traffic Officer Fred Ayala. Officers snapped on handcuffs, and she was led to a patrol car.

As she was being taken away, she protested that she had simply been driving her passengers to get something to eat.

Shyanne Richards, a Liberty High junior, said the Every 15 Minutes event two years ago was even more dramatic, but Tuesday’s performance reminded her of a time when she was driving near an intoxicated motorist, who eventually crashed.

She witnessed the accident and emergency responders’ actions. Comparing the real crash to the mockup, she said, “They do interpret how it actually happens.”

Before she drove, and before she saw these programs, “I didn’t think about it. I’d get in the car with anybody,” she said — and that’s no longer the case.