‘Impacted my life’: Madera County High School hosts anti-DUI rally

MADERA COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Every 15 minutes, someone in the U.S. is killed by an impaired driver.

To spread that message and bring awareness, for the past two days in Madera County, Torres High School students simulated what it would be like if two students were killed in a drunk-driving collision.

Parents, students, and staff were shaken up by this process. The victims were all student actors, and the scenarios were not real. But the topic is a matter of life or death, and those who participated took it very seriously.

“I think it impacted my life as to see, like how it would feel if I just drove recklessly. Not just drug related, but just in any way,” said Senior Emily Longoria, was one of the two students who were killed in the powerful simulation. “I think that was super influential to see. Like my parents just cry and just really take over the moment as if, you know, their daughter had just passed away,” she said.

The ‘Every 15 Minutes’ program, created in the 90s, travels around America to give students and their families a sense of how getting behind the wheel impaired can damage more than just the driver.

“It just really makes me think that no matter what, my choice will always have its effects, whether it’s good or bad,” Longoria shared.

The simulation started on Thursday with the students getting into the crash.

CHP, Merced City Fire, and paramedics were on the scene and treated it like a real crash, extracting the students with the jaws of life and rushing them to the hospital.

“Then day two is a memorial assembly,” said Bryan Speed, activities director at Torres High School. 

The student body gathered in the gym to remember the students who had died; two caskets were set in the center, with flowers laid on top.

Guest speakers included CHP Lt. Commander Sean Haller, Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno, and DUI victim Manuel Russ. In 2018, Russ was hit by an impaired driver in Modesto while on his way to work. He died three times, twice in the ambulance and once in the hospital.

He was in a coma, with doctors telling his family he would never recover. But he did. Now, he lives each day to share his story and spread the message about the real consequences of drunk driving.

“When you bring somebody who’s actually had that experience to your campus, it adds a level of realness to it and something that they can hopefully relate to and something that they can learn from,” Speed said.

DA Moreno emphasized to the students the importance of having a trusted adult to call if they ever need a ride. Lt. Commander Haller says this generation has the opportunity to change the statistics.