Recently, a drinking and driving demonstration was hosted by the Los Angeles County Fire Department to show how often young people are killed in DUI accidents.
The streets were blocked off, an ambulance was dispatched, and everything was made as real-life as possible to the crowed of on looking high school students.
“We want this to be realistic, which is why we did it in the street,” said Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Frederic Stowers, after officials blocked off Temple City Boulevard between Duarte Road and El Camino Avenue for the “Every 15 minutes” education program.
The sheriff’s deputies created a mock-fatal, two-car collision scene in the middle of the street as deputies and firefighters responded. During the simulation, paramedics took a student to the ambulance “every 15 minutes” in front of Temple City High School on the Temple City Blvd. The goal was to give the youth a look at the dangers of drunk driving through a series of events.
The student volunteers were taken from a different class every 15 minutes to symbolize the fact that one teen is killed every 15 minutes in a traffic collision in the United States. The program is so realistic that a floral memorial is placed on the desk of each collision “victim,” who are not allowed to interact with their peers for the rest of the day. To further illustrate the point, mock funerals were held.
According to Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Stowers, “We want to impress on students’ minds the hazards of drinking and driving. We want to teach responsibility.”
The nation-wide program also was held Thursday in front of Pasadena High School. The program is intended to provoke emotions, according to organizers. At the Temple City High School, twenty-two students participated as a part of a two-day retreat in the program. While away from their parents, they were asked to write letters about their experiences and complete drinking and driving lesson plans. Parents write obituaries for their teens.
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For more on the distracted driving prevention programs hosted by the Los Angeles Fire Dept., click here.
