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Drunk Driving Lesson

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Topic: Drunk Driving Lesson
Posted By: Zata
Subject: Drunk Driving Lesson
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 10:18am
Found this on another forum.


Originally posted by Article Article wrote:



Teachers defend shock tactics in teen drunk driving program


(06-12) 13:08 PDT Oceanside, CA (AP) --

On a Monday morning last month, highway patrol officers visited 20 classrooms at El Camino High School to announce some horrible news: Students had been killed in car wrecks over the weekend.

Classmates wept. Some became hysterical.

A few hours and many tears later, though, the pain turned to fury when the teenagers learned that it was all a hoax — a scared-straight exercise designed by school officials to dramatize the consequences of drinking and driving.

As seniors prepare for graduation parties Friday, school officials in the largely prosperous San Diego suburb are defending themselves against allegations they went too far.

At assemblies where speakers talked about the dangers of drunk driving, some students held posters that read: "Death is real. Don't play with our emotions."

Michelle de Gracia, 16, was in physics class when an officer announced her missing classmate David, a popular basketball player, died instantly after being rear-ended by a drunk driver. She felt nauseated but was too frozen to cry.

"They got the shock they wanted," she said.

Some of her classmates were hysterical, prompting the teacher to tell them immediately the death was staged.

"People started yelling at the teacher," she said. "It was pretty hectic."

Others, including many who heard the "news" between classes, were left in the dark until the 26 missing students reappeared hours later to enact a fatal traffic accident.

Carolyn Magos, 15, thought there might have been a gang shooting when she saw clusters of kids crying in the hall.

"You feel betrayed by your teachers and administrators, these people you trust," Magos said. "But then I felt selfish for feeling that way, because, I mean, if it saves one life it's worth it."

The stunt was a twist on a program called Every 15 Minutes, which was designed in the early 1990s, when someone was killed an average of once every 15 minutes in alcohol-related accidents. By 2006, the frequency dropped to once every 39 minutes, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which is not associated with the program.

In California, the state highway patrol, local law enforcement agencies and schools use the curriculum authored by the Every 15 Minutes Organization, based in Lehigh Valley, Pa.

Here's how the program normally works: Students chosen to symbolize the dead are pulled out of their classes by someone in a Grim Reaper costume while their obituaries are read aloud.

A few hours later, they reappear in ghoulish makeup to enact a traffic accident at an assembly. Rescue workers whisk "victims" from a mangled car to a hospital or morgue. The "dead" then spend the night at a hotel isolated from friends and family before returning the next day for an assembly with parents and professional speakers.

At El Camino, the students who were in on the secret shunned the Grim Reaper skit.

"We didn't want kids laughing at it," said Michelle Molin, 17, a junior. "It's like Halloween."

El Camino officials agreed to try to give students the experience of real grief. They defend how they handled the exercise.

"They were traumatized, but we wanted them to be traumatized," said guidance counselor Lori Tauber. "That's how they get the message."

The school had counselors on standby to calm kids who were visibly upset but didn't anticipate the power of cell phones to spread the word.

Before class, a freshman who knew her sister was playing dead texted her friends to say the girl had been killed. Word spread quickly among the school's 3,100 students, many of whom clustered between periods crying.

Even administrators who knew about the program thought there had been a terrible coincidence.

"I got a call from the principal's secretary saying, 'I heard one of our Every 15 Minutes students was really in an accident!'" said Tauber. "And I was like, 'No, they're right here.'"

Dean Wilson, executive director of Every 15 Minutes, said he didn't endorse the hoax. He knew of only a handful of schools where students were told a death was real.

In 2002, a high school in Eagle Grove, Iowa, north of Des Moines, used a hoax death to "step up" the program, said Mark Kay. His son, Aaron, dropped out of sight after school, while his brother messaged friends asking if they'd seen him. The next morning, students were invited to view a coffin in the school foyer where the boy was playing dead.

Oceanside schools superintendent Larry Perondi said he fielded only a few calls from parents, while the PTA chapter said it had not heard any complaints.

Wendy Reynolds, a former prosecutor who spoke at El Camino High about her experience being orphaned by a drunk driver, said most students would benefit.

"I think we save lives if one kid makes a better choice every time he gets in a car," she said.

Perondi said the program students got the message.

"We did this in earnest," he said. "This was not done to be a prankster."



tl;dr
Basically the school and a few students secretly set up a scenario where the students miss school, and the same day, officers come in and tell students they were killed by drunk driving.  Naturally people flip out when they find out it wasn't true.



Replies:
Posted By: jmac3
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 10:27am
I think it was a good idea.




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Que pasa?




Posted By: RoboCop
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 10:28am
Our school does this. It's called fatal choices. Everyone knows it will happen but many people still cry over it. We do the fake crash in our parking lot. Make-up out the wazoo and a helicopter takes a person to the hospital. All the people that died that day go to a hotel and stay for the night and give a write-up about the experience. Pretty interesting. We are supposed to be doing it this year again. I hope so because last time we did, my teacher made us stay in class and take a quiz.


Posted By: Gator Taco
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 10:29am
They should do this at my school.

I probably see an accident every two weeks leaving my high school in the afternoon. Its always people re-ending each other.

Gives me good reason to upgrade to a plate bumper in the rear.


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http://www.last.fm/user/trailgator01 - last.fm


Posted By: jmac3
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 10:29am
Robocop, that's not the same if you know about it.

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Que pasa?




Posted By: carl_the_sniper
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 10:53am
Am I the only one that thinks that's completely retarted?

We do the fake crash here (no helicopter though unfortunately) where some students have crashed, one gets out and runs away with the police following him and the firefighters/paramedics rescue the guys inside. They use smoke grenades and everything.

Pretty awesome show actually.

But that is just too far.


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Posted By: ThatGuitarGuy
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 10:58am
We did that at my high school years ago, with the staged crash, they pulled the tarp off the cars, then started the "rescue"

It woulda been a pretty awesome show, but I think the point was lost on a lot of us, as we were just happy to be out of class for a while.

I think the "shock factor" of the students not even being in school all day would have a lot more of an impact, and might actually affect people.


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Posted By: oreomann33
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 11:07am
That's messed up.

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Posted By: Reb Cpl
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 2:59pm
I think its a fantastic idea.

The kids have every right to be pissed at the ones responsible, but you can damn well bet that its a lesson that will stick.

Will it save lives? Who knows, but if it saves only one, it's worth a few cocky and arrogant teens crying for an afternoon.




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Posted By: carl_the_sniper
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 3:14pm
Originally posted by Reb Cpl Reb Cpl wrote:

I think its a fantastic idea. The kids have every right to be pissed at the ones responsible, but you can damn well bet that its a lesson that will stick. Will it save lives? Who knows, but if it saves only one, it's worth a few cocky and arrogant teens crying for an afternoon.

Why exactly are they cocky and arrogant?


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<just say no to unnecessarily sexualized sigs>


Posted By: Reb Cpl
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 3:28pm
They're adolescents.

They're by default cocky and arrogant.
I was when I was their age, as were (are?) you, and everyone else. It comes with the territory.

Denial is futile, in fact, I welcome it as it would do nothing but prove my point.


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Posted By: Gator Taco
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 3:37pm
Reb, you must be one of them. Considering how cocky and arrogant you are.

Denial would be futile, in fact, I welcome it as it would do nothing but prove my point.


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http://www.last.fm/user/trailgator01 - last.fm


Posted By: Reb Cpl
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 4:04pm
Originally posted by Gator Taco Gator Taco wrote:

Reb, you must be one of them. Considering how cocky and arrogant you are.

Denial would be futile, in fact, I welcome it as it would do nothing but prove my point.


Cocky and arrogant? I? But of course. Having only been out of my adolescent period for about 6 years, I'm still suffering the ravages of the arrogance that comes with the age, yet am able to admit it- perhaps the first signs of growing out of it.

You however, are so steeped in denial that you'll be 47 before you come to the realization that you might, in fact, be wrong sometimes. Of course, WE already realize it, it'll just take you a bit longer.




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Posted By: GI JOES SON
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 4:06pm
reb, think about it though. without the denial and arrogance of youth, all you'd have to do at the firehouse is sit and drink beer, with no good stories to tell unless someone else decides to commit insurance fraud. what fun would that be?

but, in all seriousness young people (guilty myself) are pretty cocky and arrogant. which is now why i have to go to court for a speeding ticket.


Posted By: oreomann33
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 4:09pm
Originally posted by Reb Cpl Reb Cpl wrote:

Originally posted by Gator Taco Gator Taco wrote:

Reb, you must be one of them. Considering how cocky and arrogant you are.

Denial would be futile, in fact, I welcome it as it would do nothing but prove my point.


Cocky and arrogant? I? But of course. Having only been out of my adolescent period for about 6 years, I'm still suffering the ravages of the arrogance that comes with the age, yet am able to admit it- perhaps the first signs of growing out of it.

You however, are so steeped in denial that you'll be 47 before you come to the realization that you might, in fact, be wrong sometimes. Of course, WE already realize it, it'll just take you a bit longer.




And then those damn kids will get off the lawn!


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Posted By: .357 Magnum
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 4:12pm
I think it's a good idea.

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Posted By: Linus
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 4:21pm
The fire department of the town I used to live in would drop off cars that were involved in drunk driving accidents at our schools front door for all kids to see when they went in.

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Posted By: heliumman77
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 7:52pm
All these shows at stuff at school are messed up. And the whole being cocky and arrogant when your young post is pretty hypocritical.

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Posted By: l3uLL3t
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 8:17pm
wish i was one of the one's who got to fake my death and miss school.

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Posted By: impulse!
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 9:43pm
The "dead" then spend the night at a hotel isolated from friends and family before returning the next day

If I was one of the dead. I would get hammered drunk at the hotel.


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Posted By: DaveEllis
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 9:51pm
Originally posted by impulse! impulse! wrote:

The "dead" then spend the night at a hotel isolated from friends and family before returning the next day

If I was one of the dead. I would get hammered drunk at the hotel.


and for good measure I would reappear at the school by driving in...drunk.


Posted By: AfricanAmerican
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 10:05pm
That school is 5 minutes away from me

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Do it again, and you're banned.


Posted By: Enmity
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 10:51pm
My school does a 'mock crash' every year where they set up a crash, have helicopter land and 'rescue' the injured, then later the kids come in with painted faces to resemble them dead. Lehigh valley is about 15 minutes from me. But what they did was out of line in my eyes, although I do agree it would be a lesson that sticks in their head.


Posted By: Ace_Of_Spades
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 11:04pm

they did this at my sisters school in hwich she was one of the dead people, they went as far as putting make-up and what not, staged a scene and EVERYTHING, even calling in the parents when she was taken to the hospital, the same shock and aw probably would hvae happened but the students knew about it before it happened luckily. Even though they told the students, many were still crying when they saw my sister, it was pretty strange seeing her "dead" and cut up and stuff, pretty crazy but saves lives definetly



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Posted By: paintball437085
Date Posted: 19 June 2008 at 11:23pm
i wish that would happen here

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Posted By: impulse!
Date Posted: 20 June 2008 at 12:30am
I don't see how it saves lives. Example

" Little johnny has ten beers. So his state of mind is gone. Then little lucy ask for a ride home. He knows he can score."

The whole white makeup thing goes out the window.


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Posted By: Shub
Date Posted: 20 June 2008 at 2:04am
When I was in high school, they staged a mock crash every year, but they never used students as participants...it ended up being the whole student body standing in the street watching the local fire department cut the roof off a wrecked car with the jaws of life, wondering what was for lunch.

I think the stunt was a good idea, something to at least make people thing a little bit.


Posted By: Pariel
Date Posted: 20 June 2008 at 9:37am
I think it might be more effective if they just taught people not to be retarded in the first place. Drunk driving is only problem because we fail to teach people to make good decisions in the first place.


Posted By: Benjichang
Date Posted: 20 June 2008 at 11:47am
Pretty stupid, IMO.

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irc.esper.net
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Posted By: Gator Taco
Date Posted: 20 June 2008 at 11:49am
Originally posted by Benjichang Benjichang wrote:

Drunk driving is pretty stupid, IMO.


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http://www.last.fm/user/trailgator01 - last.fm


Posted By: Benjichang
Date Posted: 20 June 2008 at 12:03pm
I wasn't supporting drunk driving....

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irc.esper.net
#paintball


Posted By: Gator Taco
Date Posted: 20 June 2008 at 12:04pm
I didn't say you where...

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http://www.last.fm/user/trailgator01 - last.fm


Posted By: Benjichang
Date Posted: 20 June 2008 at 12:10pm
*Were

Then what was your point? I'm pretty sure everyone can agree that drunk driving is stupid, dangerous, and inexcusable really. I think that this method is a bit over the top, however, and probably isn't going to prevent anyone from driving drunk, especially with high school kids being high school kids.


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irc.esper.net
#paintball


Posted By: Gator Taco
Date Posted: 20 June 2008 at 12:13pm
I was just pointing out my extreme dislike for drunk drivers.

And I agree, this isnt gonna stop anyone from drunk driving.


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http://www.last.fm/user/trailgator01 - last.fm


Posted By: ammolord
Date Posted: 20 June 2008 at 12:21pm
Originally posted by DaveEllis DaveEllis wrote:

Originally posted by impulse! impulse! wrote:

The "dead" then spend the night at a hotel isolated from friends and family before returning the next day

If I was one of the dead. I would get hammered drunk at the hotel.


and for good measure I would reappear at the school by driving in...drunk.
and "making" your own enterance.

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Posted By: TheWrAith
Date Posted: 20 June 2008 at 1:43pm
Originally posted by Enmity Enmity wrote:

My school does a 'mock crash' every year where they set up a crash, have helicopter land and 'rescue' the injured, then later the kids come in with painted faces to resemble them dead. Lehigh valley is about 15 minutes from me. But what they did was out of line in my eyes, although I do agree it would be a lesson that sticks in their head.



 It is a good way to teach someone a lesson, but in my Honest opinion this is """Flipping""" have to make sure I dont cuss... Flipping Retarded, I have never heard of a "Government" or school program like this...

  If a cop came in and told the whole class someone died and it happend to be your friend, how the hell would you act? I would probably leave the room damn near breadking down.. This is rediculious...
 
 This has me really upset... SHow a Slideshow of Dead people Mangled Bodies People with their heads Ripped off show the Old black and white footage of the wrecks we had in the 50's "Warm Leather" I believe is the name of one of the worst ones..Show stuff like that, Not play a prank on some of the students, Drasticly shifting a teens emotions  like that is just not right... 

 I can see my self freaking out when being told it is a prank and just flipping, I would of probably been arrested by the cop for cussing him out "You think telling people their friend is dead is a good PRANK? You think its a joke or something you can use to help us to stay away from drunk driving? you need to RETHINK your plan... to tell me I will never see one of my closest friends for the rest of my life.... I would flip... too much would be going through my head when he told me it was a prank for me to just...take a sigh of relief...

 I guess it works, but showing people and familys that have actually died in crashes is just as effective... telling someone their friend is DEAD is quite another... maybe someone telling me a friend has died effects me differently...


Posted By: rednekk98
Date Posted: 20 June 2008 at 10:24pm
The fake-out thing is more than a little far, some kid with a heart condition might keel over. Slide shows and videos are grim enough, the ones they showed in drivers ed with the people screaming in agony as they died and burnt baby corpses were pretty bad.

Last I knew if you needed a helicopter ride to the hospital it cost you about $15k, but some schools are willing to pay for the copter and tie it up for several hours? That's retarded.


Posted By: GI JOES SON
Date Posted: 20 June 2008 at 10:27pm
Originally posted by Ace_Of_Spades Ace_Of_Spades wrote:

they did this at my sisters school in hwich she was one of the dead people, they went as far as putting make-up and what not, staged a scene and EVERYTHING, even calling in the parents when she was taken to the hospital, the same shock and aw probably would hvae happened but the students knew about it before it happened luckily. Even though they told the students, many were still crying when they saw my sister, it was pretty strange seeing her "dead" and cut up and stuff, pretty crazy but saves lives definetly



if i was a parent and heard that my kid went to the hospital, not knowing it was staged and then found out it was all a hoax, i would go to jail for murder. hands down.



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