REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Recognition of the "Every 15 Minutes" Planning Committee
Report
BACKGROUND
The Santa Clara Police Department and Santa Clara Unified School District hosted a two-day drunk driving and distracted driving prevention program at Santa Clara High School, May 2-3, 2019. 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students participated in "Every 15 Minutes," a two-day event to create a realistic understanding of the impact on people involved in alcohol-related and distracted driving fatal collisions. This dramatic program draws on student emotions to serve as a powerful tool to create awareness among students that they are not invincible. It also extends beyond the student circle to help teens realize how many people are affected by their decisions.
On May 2, a fatal car collision involving four students was staged on the football field. The communication from Public Safety Dispatchers and the emergency response by police, fire and paramedics was fast paced and realistic. Students witnessed first-hand an injured student who received medical treatment on scene, a "critically injured" student was transported to Valley Medical Center hospital, another student proceeded through standardized field sobriety tests resulting in being arrested for driving under the influence, and the final student "succumbed" to their injuries and left the scene in a body bag. Parents were notified at their place of employment or at home that their child had been "killed" as a result of a DUI collision.
At the beginning of the school day 20 pre-selected students were one-by-one announced as having been "killed by a drunk driver" inside their classrooms. An obituary was then read to their classmates and a rose placed on the "deceased" student's desk. All 20 students were sequestered from family and friends overnight. During that time, the students participated in a driving exercise simulating being drunk, listened to special guest speakers who have personally experienced the ...
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