Every 15 Minutes is coming to Golden Valley High School on Thursday, December 1.

**There may be traffic delays in the area of Robert C. Lee Parkway, Santa Clarita 10:00am – 1:30pm**

This event is designed to educate students about the severe dangers awaiting those who make choices, particularly those related to reckless driving, speed contests, drinking alcohol and driving, and now distracted driving and texting. The program will challenge students to think about personal safety and the responsibility of making mature decisions.

Several students will be taken from classes on Thursday, as if they had been “lost” in a tragic incident. Other student program participants will be at a driving under the influence (D.U.I.) simulated collision scene, which will be set up near the school for the students to view, depicting fatalities and serious injuries to several students. During many of the programs, the Air-5 rescue helicopter from LASD’s Aero Bureau is used to simulate an airlift of a critically injured student to a local hospital. Several other “injured” students will be treated at the scene by the LA County Fire Department and taken to a local hospital. The drunk driver will be arrested and taken to the Santa Clarita Superior Court where a simulated conviction for manslaughter will occur.

Following the school demonstration and court proceedings, the program participants will visit the Santa Clarita Valley Youth Grove at Central Park and the Eternal Valley Mortuary. The students involved in the 2-day program will then visit a local hotel for dinner, where community members who have experienced real-life drunk driving related tragedies in their family and counselors will speak to them about how it feels to lose a loved one in a drunk driving related incident. The student participants will draft a letter to be given to their parents that begins with this phrase: “Yesterday I was killed by a drunk driver and I never got to tell you….”

An assembly will be held at Golden Valley High School on Friday, December 2, 2016, for the junior and senior student body where several guest speakers who had family members killed in crashes in the Santa Clarita Valley in past years will convey their strong and emotional messages. All family and community members are encouraged to get involved and frequently talk to their youths about the topics.

Funding for the program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the California Highway Patrol and the City of Santa Clarita.

Credentialed members of the press are invited to attend.

Video from the Saugus High School program – Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh0Odznqnmc

For additional information contact Deputy Cheryl Hartman at 661-255-1121 or e-mail: cahartma@lasd.org