New Program Fakes Fatal Drunken Driving Crash

June 7, 2007 — -- With nearly 300 teens per year killed in alcohol-related accidents during prom season, a new program is trying to scare kids out of this deadly trend. It's called Every 15 Minutes, and it's designed to force teens to experience the tragedy of drunken driving by faking a deadly accident with actual students as victims, but not letting their friends in on the experiment.

At 8 a.m. at Notre Dame High School in eastern Pennsylvania, the school day starts with a surprise lesson in "real" life, when the student body is unknowingly put through the program. An off-duty fireman plays the role of the grim reaper and removes a student from class every 15 minutes. Alcohol-related deaths occur every 15 minutes in the United States, experts estimate.

"Having all of my close friends, every single one of them 'die' and not being able to talk to any of them,"said Jessica Glovas, a Notre Dame High School student. "It really frightened me."

"What Every 15 Minutes does, is it offers a real life experience, but it doesn't have the risk or the tragedy," said Dean Wilson, the executive director of Every 15 Minutes. "People are placed into positions that it feels very real to them."

At lunch, the student body is then called outside to a shock as a grisly mock crash scene is revealed. In the re-enactment, fellow classmates cling to life at the hands of a drunken driver.

Firefighters use the jaws of life to rescue those "trapped" and several victims are medevaced to a local hospital. For one fabricated fatality, it's already too late.

Students say the program had a big impact.

"The faces I saw were really affected -- tears, people holding hands and holding each other and just really shocked by what they saw," student Chris Morganelli said.

"I was crying and it was very -- too real," student Christina Onorata said.

Like fellow participants, the student chosen to play the drunken driver is put through real world pains. He's arrested by police and thrown in jail.

Meanwhile, the trauma center does its best to revive a 17-year-old mock patient, student Nicole Rinker.

"We get to the trauma room and I heard them pronounce that I was dead, so it's definitely something that is more real than you realize," she said. "I knew my mom was going to be upset."