Grim Reaper teaches lessons

The fatal two-car accident was caused by a drunken teen driver, and the Grim Reaper was there to take the dead away.

At Wednesday’s staged accident, known as “Every 15 Minutes,” East Nicolaus High School students witnessed firsthand the effects of drinking and driving.

“Basically it’s a simulated DUI crash,” said Jeff Larson, public affairs officer for the California Highway Patrol’s Yuba-Sutter office. “What’s kind of neat about this is, it gives these kids a real snapshot of what could happen if, God forbid, they choose to drink and drive.”

The event is named “Every 15 Minutes,” reflecting the statistic that a young driver dies every quarter-hour in accidents caused by motorists driving under the influence.

“We spend the entire school year - from the time school starts in September - planning this event,” Larson said. “It’s huge. We get (Trauma Intervention Program) involved, fire departments, tow companies to donate vehicles to cut up and shred and make garbage out of, the ambulance company, hospital, mortuary, you name it.”

The day before the simulated crash, usually held directly in front of the school, the Grim Reaper goes to class and pulls a student out every 15 minutes. The students are escorted away for the entire day and overnight, so they are absent from class as though they had really died.

Wednesday’s “accident” included one teenager who died at the scene and was loaded into the coroner’s vehicle in a body bag, another who was taken to the hospital with serious injuries and one who was arrested for driving drunk, Larson said.

“They are booked into the Sutter County Jail, have to empty out their pockets and are fingerprinted. They’ll actually put them in general population - everything,” Larson said.

Beer cans and other evidence suggesting the driver was drinking were strewn about the accident scene. Even though the crash isn’t real, many of the students who watch the program are shaken and upset.

“We did it at East Nicolaus about two years ago, and one of the girls in the audience actually passed out that time,” Larson said. “It’s very real and very emotional for the student population; the teachers even get teary.”

The lesson will culminate today with an assembly and guest speaker Dr. Gary Taxera, a Yuba City optometrist whose 19-year-old daughter, Robin, was killed two years ago by Perry Wibber.

Wibber was driving drunk down Highway 99 near Highway 113 when he crossed the center line and hit Robin’s car head-on.

Also at the assembly will be Christina Balestreri, who is in a wheelchair because she was paralyzed in a DUI accident, Larson said.

Appeal-Democrat reporter Kymm Mann can be reached at 749-4707 or kmann@appealdemocrat.com