Every 15 Minutes

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Ryan C Lopez

Every 15 Minutes

There is an integral part of education that escapes most school systems, and that is the concept of driver safety, drivers ed and the lesson of responsibility is one of the most important things we can teach our youth today. At Golden Valley High School, I witnessed first hand the impact of proper educating on driver responsibility. Every other year, my school would do a program called “Every 15 Minutes” which is a program dedicated to highlighting the massive toll that distracted and intoxicated driving has on people’s lives and why we should make a difference and do everything in our power to break the senseless chain of violence at the hands of vehicular accidents due to distracted and intoxicated driving. As the acting Director of our school’s TV program, I was in charge of making a video highlighting the events. I, along with my amazing team of peers, created a full 20 minute Documentary in one single day which described the atrocities that people our age can be responsible for if we do not take the responsibility of driving safely seriously. The morning that the Documentary premiered at our school, there was the usual hustle and bustle beforehand as kids shuffled into the gym cracking jokes and being, well, teenagers about this very serious subject.

A room of 500 students, a woman walks up to the microphone and tells the story of how she lost her twenty year old son to drinking and driving. Our Documentary airs, students are brought to tears, the energy in the room is now very serious. A new man and woman go up to the podium, both elderly, they speak of their sixteen year old daughter lost in a texting and driving accident, and they end with telling us that we can be the difference in the world.

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It’s fascinating how effective this program was in conveying the responsibility we have as young adults, and our ability to create an actual change. Just recently, in May of 2020, I was with my girlfriend and her friends, and one of them drank a hard seltzer and then tried to go buy something from the grocery store, when the words “what about Every 15 Minutes?” came out of her friend’s mouth casually. A look of realization dawned over her face, and I could see in her eyes she remembered every second of the program, and she immediately threw down her keys, realizing what she was about to do was wrong. The best way to reduce the number of deaths related to driving, and help myself and all others become safer drivers is through educational programs, such as Every 15 Minutes. I have personally seen the impact this program has had on people my age, and I am so grateful for it, as future generations will be too, should we choose to educate them as well.