The screeching of tires. The explosive crunch of metal colliding. The sounds are unmistakable.
About 45,000 Americans die in car crashes every year. According to the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration, 12,500 crash deaths are linked to alcohol.
Many of the drunk drivers are teens.
The “Every 15 Minutes Program” — a dramatic, two-day high school initiative put on in part by the California Highway Patrol — is designed to tell this story. Using simulated car crashes, a staged hospital scene, mock arrests, and a trial, the program emphasizes real-life consequences of bad choices.
Last week, the program came to Coronado High School.
“One poor choice can result in a life-changing event,” said Kim Gonzales, the public information officer for the California Highway Patrol San Diego Area Office.
On Tuesday, March 24, the Coronado Police Department shut down Seventh Street at E and F Avenue to stage a realistic drunk driving crash simulation. 11th and 12th graders at Coronado High School lined the streets to watch the accident unfold.
CHS students played themselves in the simulation. Zimmer Geraldi was expelled from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene, while paramedics loaded the passenger, his sister Claudia, into an ambulance. The drunk driver, played by Nick DeSena, was administered a sobriety test and arrested on the street, while his passenger, Ines Gil, was taken to Sharp Hospital for treatment.
Later in a video presented to the students the following day, we see that Claudia dies from her injuries and Ines is paralyzed. Students watch Zimmer and Claudia’s mom, Nicole, arrive at the hospital to learn that both of her children are dead.
The program cumulated in a speeches from a man who was sentenced to 22 years in state prison for killing a man in 2015 drunk driving accident, and a father whose young son was killed by a drunk driver.
If it seems like the program is intense, scary, and a bit traumatizing, it’s by design.
Every 15 Minutes is supposed to pack a punch — with the hopes that it will live in the memory of teens and inspire safe choices.
“The event shows the students how the consequences of driving under the influence impact not only themselves, but their families, school, and communities,” said CHS teacher Nicole Belong, who organizes the event. “Having parents involved is so important to show the students how the loss of a child would devastate a family.”
It’s not an easy program to put together. It involves not only Coronado High School students, families and administration, but also the California Highway Patrol, the Coronado Police Department, the Coronado Fire Department, the City of Coronado, the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, Sharp Coronado Hospital, Fetheringill Mortuary, the San Diego Superior Courthouse, the San Diego District Attorney’s Office, Defense Attorney Cole Casey, and more.
It’s the fifth time Belong has spearheaded the program.
“The biggest challenge when planning this event is there are so many moving pieces and I want everything to be perfect so it can be the most impactful for our juniors and seniors,” said Belong. “But it’s rewarding because it provides our students with important information in a way that is very memorable to help them make safe choices for life.”
Belong says the student feedback is overwhelmingly positive.
“I’ve had students who have graduated, come back and share how memorable it was, and how it has helped them make decisions to not get in the car with drunk friends in college and not letting friends who are drinking drive,” said Belong. “I had another student come back and tell me that they think about this event almost every time they leave a party at their university.”
While some say the program has no proven long-term effects, comparing it to controversial anti-drug DARE program of the 1980s and 1990s, many CHS students say the program has value.
“I think it’s important for high schoolers to learn responsibility, especially when presented with alcohol and partying,” said CHS Junior Kaia Furhmann, who played one of the “Walking Dead” students. “It’s important to understand the risks and the dangers associated with driving under the influence. It’s important to get the message out to those high schoolers impacted by this.”
Junior Luca Hansen says “Every 15 Minutes” will make some students stop and think.
“I think they did a really good job showing the real-life situation and the real-life consequences,” said Hansen.
The program is funded by a $15,000 grant from the Office of Traffic Safety and is held every other year.
