Every 15 Minutes Program: Helpful or Too Traumatic?

For the last 8 years that I have lived and worked in this community I have heard of the Every 15 Minutes Program presented by CHP to juniors and seniors in an effort to curb drunk driving.  The first time I heard of the details I was stunned at the extremes gone to in making the point and also concerned about the affects on emotionally fragile people.  I seem to be the only one worried about this, but it brings to mind the highly criticized psychological experiments which intentionally inflicted pain decades ago. 

I have had kids tell me they were upset for a week, highly anxious and too distracted to focus on their studies after experiencing what felt like a real trauma.  I believe parents are asked permission for their children to participate and I guess that leaves it to them to determine if this is a good choice for their particular kid.  I don’t know if they are aware of the details of this program. 

Here is a link to an “award winning” video which gives graphic detail of what is presented.  I think parents should carefully consider if their child would benefit from this.   http://vimeo.com/11222689

I believe there are other ways of making the point that driving drunk is very dangerous. What bothers me most is that kids who have not been told about how this works begin crying and panicking when they realize friends are missing after the announcement is made that some of their peers have been killed in a car accident. Then, the screaming and death enacted and the body bags, morgue, friends in caskets and parents falling apart seems too much like instilling trauma unnecessarily to me.  If it were parents staging something horrible to get a kid’s attention they could be brought up on charges of emotional abuse.

I know there are many who will not agree and I would like to hear from kids and parents about what you make of this and what other presentations do you think would be effective.