Trabuco Hills Police Activity: Every 15 Minutes Program, Explained

MISSION VIEJO, CA — Residents who live near Trabuco Hills High School noticed an excessive amount of Orange County Sheriff's Department and Orange County Fire Authority activity on Tuesday during the morning's accident reenactment program.

This two-day program will run May 23 and May 24.

The Every 15 Minutes Program is a two-day program focusing on high school juniors and seniors, which challenges them to think about drinking, driving, personal safety, and the responsibility of making mature decisions and the impact their decisions have on family, friends, and many others.

The program’s name was derived from the fact that in the early 1990’s, every fifteen minutes someone in the United States died in an alcohol-related traffic collision. However, with the implementation of new laws, grass roots organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Students Against Drunk Driving and programs such as these, the death rate is now one every thirty minutes, a figure which continues to be unacceptable.

Every 15 Minutes brings together a broad coalition of interested local agencies with the goal of reducing alcohol-related traffic fatalities among youth.

The partnering of law enforcement, the Orange County Department of Education, the Office of Traffic Safety, local hospitals, emergency medical responders, businesses, service clubs and school districts validates the importance of working together to ensure a healthy community. Up to 10 months of planning go into each Every 15 Minutes event.

What happens during an Every 15 Minutes High School event?

Read: Real Tragedy Portrayed at 100th Every Fifteen Minutes Event In Rancho Santa Margarita

Prior to the actual event, approximately 30 students, representing a cross section of the school, are selected as participants. Program Components: Day One: One student is removed from class every fifteen minutes and becomes one of the “living dead.”

A uniformed officer and the “Grim Reaper” enter the classroom and read each student’s obituary to those remaining in the class.

The obituary is posted in the classroom for the remainder of the school year. Throughout the day, members of the living dead place their tombstone in a temporary cemetery on the school campus so friends and classmates can mourn their loss. (10:45- 11:30 a.m. ~ Periods 4 and 5) A simulated drunk driving collision involving pre-selected high school students is staged on the Mustang Run for the benefit of the juniors and seniors.

It begins with a pre-recorded 911 call that triggers an emergency response by law enforcement, firefighters, paramedics and the coroner.

Each agency uses the drill as a training exercise that simulates "real life responses."

During Every 15 Minutes:

• Paramedics treat a student(s) for minor injuries.
• A second critically injured student is trapped inside a vehicle and must be rescued by firefighters using the Jaws of Life.
• Another student is declared dead and removed by the coroner.
• The student designated as the drunk driver is given a field sobriety test and is arrested for driving under the influence.
• After the collision, the drama continues for the students involved in the crash.
• Officers book the drunk driver into jail.
• After booking is completed, the drunk driver must call a parent to explain what he or she has done.

Have you taken part in an Every 15 Minutes exercise? Let us know how it has affected you and the decisions that you make in comments.

Photos: Courtesy of OCFA, OCFA Photographer Jakub Lichtenstein