Full Notification

 This Wednesday, February 10, 2016, the City of Santa Clarita, the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station and Valencia High School officials will join in partnership to conduct the "Every 15 Minutes" program at Valencia High School.

"Every 15 Minutes" is a powerful event designed to dramatically instill teenagers with the potentially dangerous consequences of drinking alcohol, reckless driving and life choices. It also challenges students to think about the severe dangers associated with speed contests and texting while driving.

During the first day's events, selected students will be removed from their classes, to represent those whose lives have been prematurely cut short due to a tragic accident. The students will later return to class as the "living dead." From that moment on, the selected students will not be allowed to speak or interact with other students for the remainder of the school day. 

A simulated traffic collision for the students will be viewable on the school grounds.  Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel will be on site treating 'injured' student participants. Law enforcement will arrest and book the student "drunk driver," transporting the student to the Santa Clarita Superior Court where a simulated conviction for 'manslaughter' will occur.

Student participants will continue their experience by an actual trip to the Eternal Valley Mortuary and a visit to the Santa Clarita Youth Grove. The Youth Grove in Central Park serves as a poignant reminder of the youth in Santa Clarita ages 24 and under who have lost their lives in traffic-related incidents.

The students involved in the two day "Every 15 minutes" program will then visit a local hotel for dinner, where community members who have experienced  real-life drunk driving related tragedies will speak to them about it feels to lose a loved one in a drunk driving related incident.

Student participants will be asked to draft a somber letter to their parents that begins with:

       "Dear Mom and Dad, yesterday I was killed by a drunk driver and I never got to tell you...."

On Thursday, February 11, 2016, there will be an assembly held at Valencia High School for juniors and seniors. There will be guest speakers at the assembly who had family members killed in crashes in Santa Clarita Valley. Their strong and emotional messages are to serve as a reminder to the students about the dangers associated with poor life choices.

Credentialed members of the press are invited to attend. For additional information, please contact Santa Clarita Sheriff's Station Deputy Hartman at (661) 255-1121 or by email at: [email protected].

Funding for the "Every 15 Minutes" 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.

**Please note, on Wednesday, February, 10, 2016, between the hours of 10:00 am and 1:00 pm, there may be traffic delays experienced by drivers in the area of Dickason Drive, between Decoro Drive and Smyth Drive. **

If you would like to see the video from the 2015 Saugus High School program, it is available for viewing at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFOjPw7XUhE

Forwarded by:

211 W. Temple Street, Los Angeles C 90012

(213)229-1700

Twitter: @LASDHQ

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LosAngelesCountySheriffsDepartment

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Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station policies the City of Santa Clarita and the unincorporated communities of a portion of the Angeles National Forest, as well as Bouquet Canyon, Canyon County, Castaic, Gorman, Hasley Canyon, Newhall, Neenach, Sand Canyon, Santa Clarita, Saugus, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Sleepy Valley, Southern Oaks, Stevenson Ranch, Sunset Point, Tesoro del Valle, Valencia, Val Verde, West Hills and West Ranch.