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La Mirada~On June 3 and 4, 2013, select students from La Mirada High School will take part in the "Every 15 Minutes" event.

| Crews film mock crash scene in front of La Mirada High School recently. photo Tony Aiello
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The program, started by the Chico Police Department in 1995, is a two-day event focusing on high school juniors and seniors, challenging them to think about drinking, driving, personal safety, and the responsibility of making mature decisions.
It is conducted at high schools throughout the country and is designed to bring awareness to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration statistic that someone dies in an alcohol related auto accident every 15 minutes in the United States.
Held every other year in La Mirada since 2001, around the time of high school prom and graduation, Every 15 Minutes provides students with a realistic look at the destruction of a drunken driving auto accident involving their classmates.
A number of La Mirada High School students were selected as volunteers to play the role of teenagers involved in a fatal auto accident, featuring a simulated car collision, injured victims, and Sheriff, Fire, and ambulance personnel responding to the scene.
Coordinated by the La Mirada Public Safety Team and officials from La Mirada High School, the two-day realistic event will commence with a visit to a local mortuary and a mock memorial service for several students involved in a hypothetical drinking and driving accident. The Every 15 Minutes program will end with a video demonstration of the auto accident at an assembly on campus the following day. "
“The goal of the Every 15 Minutes program is to make certain that students have an understanding of the serious consequences involved when drinking and driving," explains Safety Education Officer Mary Cipres.
Cipres said well over 20 students participated in the filming and other aspects of the program, "Even if it prevents only one student from drinking and driving, the effort is well worth it," she said. |