Hollister
– Hearing nationwide statistics on drunken driving fatalities,
teenagers often brush them off, thinking they’re invincible.
Hollister – Hearing nationwide statistics on drunken driving fatalities, teenagers often brush them off, thinking they’re invincible.
“It’s the superman syndrome: ‘We’re young and nothing’s going to happen to us,'” San Benito County Sheriff’s Lt. Roy Iler said.
But seeing almost 20 of their peers standing before them, each one representing an alcohol-related traffic fatality, the students appear to grasp the reality: One of those “statistics” could be them.
The Every 15 Minutes program, started two years ago at San Benito High School, shows students the real-life consequences of driving under the influence through a dramatic car-crash simulation – with their classmates as the victims acting out a real-life drama complete with sirens, police and wrecked cars.
“Some people don’t take it seriously, because they think, ‘It’ll never happen to me; I’ll never do anything that stupid,'” 17-year-old SBHS senior Great Invencion said.
To help students take driving under the influence more seriously, the program shows students a simulation of actual emergency safety procedures following an alcohol-related car accident.
San Benito High School juniors and seniors watched Tuesday as local highway patrol, police, firefighters and other emergency workers drove onto their football field, sirens blaring, in response to a staged head-on collision.
One student laid motionless next to a mangled car full of beer cans, while two others were cut out of a vehicle. The fourth student, the driver in the simulation, performed sobriety tests before being handcuffed and arrested for driving under the influence. Throughout the entire simulation, a looming grim reaper walked around the scene of the crash.
“I thought it was impacting, because that really does happen,” 17-year-old senior Romana Hernandez said.
Her friend, Geovani Sandoval, 17, agreed. He added that he was surprised by the effect the simulation had on him.
“You actually know the people and this could happen anytime,” Sandoval said. “I wasn’t expecting this.”
Tuesday’s simulated event bore a striking resemblance to a real-life drunken driving accident that occurred over the weekend in Hollister, leaving three people injured.
The driver of the car was 18-year-old Gilroy resident Phillip A. Muniz Jr., who was arrested on suspicion of DUI. At press time Tuesday, he was still at the San Jose Regional Hospital recovering from injuries suffered in the accident.
One of the others injured in the accident, 25-year-old Rebecca L. Dattilo of Hollister was still at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, where she was in fair condition Tuesday night.
The third person involved in the accident, 18-year-old Hollister resident Martin J. Flores, has been released from the hospital.
Duane Morgan, vice principal at SBHS who has organized the event both years, said he hopes the simulation will make students think twice before drinking and driving.
He pointed out that San Benito High School has not seen a drunken driving fatality since the faculty launched the program two years ago.
“We know we’re not going to stop them from drinking, but we know we can stop them from drinking and driving,” Morgan said.
Alice Joy covers education for the Free Lance. She can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 336 or at [email protected].
