The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, the city of Santa Clarita and Valencia High School officials will partner to bring the “Every 15 Minutes” program to the school on Tuesday, February 20.

The “Every 15 Minutes” program is a two-day event designed to dramatically instill teenagers with the consequences associated with drinking alcohol, reckless driving and life choices.

The program will challenge students to think about personal safety and the responsibility of making mature decisions – particularly those related to reckless driving, speed contests, drinking alcohol, using drugs and driving, and distracted driving.

Several students will be removed from their school classes on Tuesday as if they had been “lost” in a tragic incident. They will be joined by other student program participants at a driving under the influence simulated collision scene, which will be set up near the school for students to view, depicting fatalities and serious injuries.

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 Los Angeles 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 student participants 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 also 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 Valencia High School on Wednesday for the junior and senior classes, where guest speakers who had family members killed locally in traffic collisions will address the students.

Valencia High School is located at 27801 Dickason Drive, Valencia 91355.

Traffic Advisory: Dickason Drive will be closed between Decoro Drive and Smyth Drive between 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Please be advised of possible traffic delays.

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.

For additional information about the Every 15 Minutes program, please contact Deputy Hartman at 661-255-1121 or email cahartma@lasd.org.