Students to get vivid reminder about dangers of drinking and driving

By Jean Reid Norman

Monday, March 30, 2009 | 5:27 p.m.

Motorists traveling near Foothill High School on Thursday morning may wonder why so many police officers and rescue workers are at the school.

They will be trying to drive home a point about drinking and driving through the Henderson Police Department’s Every 15 Minutes program, which involves a mock alcohol-related crash. It will be the 20th time the Police Department has brought the program to a Henderson high school.

A simulation of a fatal crash involving volunteer students will be set up on Heather Drive on the north side of the campus. The schools’ juniors and seniors will gather on bleachers on the sidewalk to watch as police and rescue workers respond.

Heather Drive will be closed to traffic, but College Drive will remain open, police spokesman Keith Paul said.

One of the student volunteers will pose as a impaired driver and will undergo a field sobriety test.

Other volunteers will be pulled out of class throughout the morning to play corpses to illustrate the point that someone dies from an alcohol-related crash every 15 minutes.

The volunteers will all spend the night at a retreat, away from their homes, to simulate their deaths. Their parents will attend a separate retreat the evening of April 2 to discuss the program and learn more.

The program will continue on Friday with an assembly of juniors and seniors. The volunteers will talk about their experience to their classmates. Another assembly for freshmen and sophomores will be held April 15.

“The Every 15 Minutes program lets the students participate in an experience that shows them what can happen when someone gets behind the wheel of a car after drinking,” Henderson Police Chief Jutta Chambers said in a statement. “We want to work with the students and help them see the potential harm poor choices can have on someone’s life.”

The Henderson Police Department started participating in the nationwide Every 15 Minutes program in May 2001 with a program at Foothill High School. Since the first event, more than 30,000 students have taken part in the program in Henderson.