A timely and sobering reminder: Lodi High students witness dangers of driving intoxicated with 'Every 15 Minutes' program
May 3—One teenage girl was airlifted to an area hospital and another was pronounced dead at the scene after two cars collided on Pacific Avenue in front of Lodi High School Thursday morning.
One of the women was thrown through the windshield of one vehicle and the other had to be extricated from the rear passenger seat of the other.
Lodi Police Department arrived on scene, and after a series of tests, determined one of the drivers was under the influence of alcohol.
Five other passengers — who were in both vehicles and dressed for prom — escaped with cuts and bruises.
Throughout the chaos, confusion and panic, Lodi High juniors and seniors watched the entire ordeal unfold as part of the annual "Every 15 Minutes" program sponsored by the California Highway Patrol and the California Office of Traffic Safety.
The program is designed to educate students about the physical and emotional consequences of driving while intoxicated, as well as help reduce alcohol-related driving incidents.
Its name originated from a Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report in the 1990s that determined drunk-driving fatalities occurred every 15 minutes in the United States.
By 2020, that number of fatalities had declined to one every 45 minutes, with 32 people dying in drunk-driving crashes every day, according to the NHTSA.
CHP Officer Ruben Jones told the Lodi students Thursday that more often than not, DUI collisions involve teenagers.
"All of you, I'm sure there's a lot of drivers here, or you've driven with your parents, have driven by a crash scene and you get a quick snapshot view of the highway patrol investigating a crash," Jones said. "You might see the firefighters out there, AMR loading up a patient, a tow truck out there, and wonder what happened. What we're going to do today is give you a front row seat, an educational experience of a DUI crash from the very beginning to the very end."
Jones said statistics show that two out of three people will be affected by DUI in their lifetime, whether they are arrested for DUI or are the victims of DUI.
Jones narrated the scene for students as Lodi Police Department officers arrive to asses the situation.
Moments later, Lodi Dire Department paramedics are requested to extract a teenage girl from one of the vehicles.
As they tear a rear passenger-side door away from the frame, AMR paramedics arrive to transport one patient to an area hospital.
It is determined the extricated girl needed to be airlifted to a hospital with a trauma center, so a helicopter is requested.
One of the teens has died on scene, and after an examination by deputies from the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office, a black hearse is called in to take her body to the morgue while her friends look on in horror and despair.
The intoxicated driver is arrested by Lodi police officers on suspicion of DUI.
Jones said crashes are the primary cause of death among teenagers, and when impairment is involved, their risk of dying is exponentially increased.
"We do this around this time specifically because it leads in to graduation and prom," he said. "They're going to go out to parties and different things where there might be some alcohol, some temptation there. We want to show them the realities of their decisions and choices, and the fact that their choices don't just affect them."
Lisa Silvia, Lodi's activities instructor, said this was the first presentation the school was able to host since the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I'm hopeful (the students will) be impacted by this," she said. "We do have prom coming this Saturday, that's why we tried to time it up that way. Ultimately we want to make sure our students are safe and we're doing our part to help make that happen."
