Every fifteen minutes, someone dies from an alcohol related collision.
The above statement is a real statistic that the Every 15 Minutes campaign instills on their audiences. This campaign is geared toward letting society know the dangers of DUIs by doing mock demonstrations, especially on high school campuses. This past week at Easton Area High School, in Easton, Pennsylvania, some members of the senior class planned to create a video of a fake party, followed by a simulated car crash outside of the school, as well as a mock funeral for one of the students of the senior class that "died" during the mock car crash the following day.
After months of planning with student council, Students Against Destructive Decisions, the local fire department, EMT, helicopter squad, coroner, makeup artists, all of the students involved, and local families whose high school children died from a DUI incident a few years ago, the entire student body was moved and highly aware of the troubles of driving drunk.
A lot of schools all over the country partake in this movement, especially around the Prom season, where students are more likely to get in the car with a drunk driver or be the one driving while intoxicated.
Members of the senior class witnessed these events over the course of a few days, and have already seemed to have taken it to heart. I saw tweets saying "don't drink and drive, ever," and "tell your family that you love them because you never know when it'll be the last time." According to a source (being my sister, a current senior at the high school), people were sobbing and getting emotional during both the car crash and the funeral, even when people knew it was staged. No one wants to see their peers being wheeled out on stretchers or being eulogized.
"It just looked so real..."
The message is simple. Driving while intoxicated is not only illegal (especially with minors), but it can danger the lives of anyone on the road. In the simulation at Easton Area High School, the student that "died" was not in a car with drunk people. It just goes to show that even if you are being safe, there are still drivers out there who aren't thinking about how their actions can affect other people's lives.
I want to encourage anyone reading this article to share it with your friends and family members of all ages. You never know who can be influenced by one movement like this. Even if it is one person who reevaluates their decisions, that's one safer person on the road.
Make the right decisions. If you've been drinking, tell your parents or someone you trust to pick you up. I promise they would rather get a phone call that you were drinking alcohol and need a ride than to hear that you've been in a potentially fatal car accident.
The lives of the students at Easton Area High School changed after this incredibly well-orchestrated simulation. Hopefully, it is for the better with every single student.
Find out more information about how to get your high school involved or the statistics about alcohol related collisions on the following websites:
http://www.everyfifteenminutes.org/aboutus/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Every_15_Minutes
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=every..
Do not drink and drive, ever.
