"Life's lessons are best learned through experience. Unfortunately, when the target audience is teens and the topic is drinking and texting while driving, experience is not the teacher of choice."
In my senior year of high school I was honored to play a role in one of the most life changing programs. The program Every Fifteen Minutes visited my high school annually and over the course of two days it teaches the senior class the dangers and consequences and drinking and texting while driving in the closest way to reality they can. I, among many others of my grade, were nominated by the high school staff as students that, if killed in an accident, would leave a huge dent in many aspects within the school. I was chosen to be killed in an alcohol related accident.
In being part of this program, the victims knew what was going to happen suddenly that day but the rest of the student body did not. During the first day events the "Grim Reaper" enters the class room and speaks your name in which you leave your belongings and exit the room. One student is removed from class every 15 minutes. A police officer will immediately enter the classroom to read an obituary which has been written by the "dead" student's parents - explaining the circumstances of their classmate's death and the contributions the student has made to the school and the community. A few minutes later, the student will return to class as the "living dead," complete with white face make-up, a coroner's tag, and a black Every 15 Minutes T-shirt. From that point on the victims will not speak or interact with other students for the remainder of the school day and a flyer and collection of decorations is put at the dead teens' lockers; this is symbolizing their absence.
After lunch, a simulated traffic collision was created in our parking lot. These students will experience first hand, the sensations of being involved in a tragic, alcohol-related and texting while driving collision. There are smashed cars with a staged radio broadcast of the unfortunate fate of our classmates. The coroner comes in and removes the victims at scene, the instant deaths being zipped up in body bags and the survivors getting rushed to the local hospital by helicopter which landed in our soccer field. Police Officers will investigate, arrest, and book the student "drunk driver". At the end of the day, myself and the other victims were transported to a local hotel for an overnight student retreat. There our parents met us and we worked with staff to explore and learn from the consequences of distracted driving.
The retreat included driving "drunk" go karts, doing experiments, drunk goggles, multitasking activities, and speakers. All introduced to teach us how awful of a decision it is to attempt to drink and text while driving. I still remember the speaker's stories; a father who lost his daughter and a woman who killed a family. They spoke to us with all the regret and sorrow in the world, begging us to be the generation of change. Worst of all, we were told to write letters to our loved ones. We started it off by, "Dear Mom and Dad, every fifteen minutes someone in the United States dies from an alcohol related traffic collision, and today I died. I never had the chance to tell you......." They in turn wrote to us an an adjacent room. Both letters were collected and were to be shared at the funeral assembly at school the next morning.
The funeral was difficult and managed to bring a grade of over 500 together, most in tears. A few victims read their letters on stage as well as a few parents. All filled with shaky words, apologies and regrets. It was moving to hear all the feelings and thoughts we always thought we had a lifetime to share with our loved ones. But when mistakes like drinking or texting while driving occur, those words are forever silenced.
This program was life changing, not only did it simulate loosing a classmate, best friend or sibling, but it made the individual victims really understand the consequences that come with the irresponsible decision. It made me realize how normal people think it is, and how often lives are ruined because of a selfish driver. Making the choice to drink or text and drive is saying yes to killing someone's loved one. Because once you do it, there is no "I'm sorry" that will ever undo that action.
The program made me an active believer in preaching this message. Whenever it comes up, I have no problem fighting with someone who thinks it is okay or wants to do it in that moment. It will not make you look uncool or rude, it makes you a mature and caring adult to intervene in such behaviors. You may not be thanked by your friends when you take away the keys, but you will be saving someone else's life, maybe even their own.
I applaud this program and encourage every high school to use them before sending off their senior class into the real world. It made me aware of the real life all of us were going to face in a few short weeks. It made me realize that the world does not revolve around me and that my actions could very well hurt someone. Most of all, that I am a human being, and I have the obligation and responsibility to prevent distracted driving as much as I can. A person dies every fifteen seconds due to a drinking or texting related collision; that number is unacceptable especially for something that can so easily be avoided.
I believe that this program needs to be widely spread throughout the United States; if it is, I believe it will have huge positive effects and change the attitude of our generation on distracted driving. Check below:
