COUNTYWIDE : Drunk Drivers See Sobering Sights

A group of 20 young adults watched in stunned silence Wednesday as pathologists autopsied corpses a few feet from them, a display of what can happen to drunk drivers or their victims.

Richard Rodriguez, a corner’s investigator and this group’s tour guide, told them, “I’m not here to shock you, scare you, or make someone leave. . . . I’m here to educate you. This is the stuff you don’t read about or hear about, from behind the scenes. On Christmas Eve and Christmas morning when you’re opening your presents, we’re in the back room, cutting away. Forever, etch this in your mind. Take this information with you and use it for the rest of your life.”

The audience, all 16 to 25 years old and all first-time drunk driving offenders, was not likely to forget. By the end of their four-hour ordeal Wednesday, they would also view videotaped testimony by survivors of tragic drunk-driving accidents.

The program, sponsored by the Volunteer Center of Greater Orange County and the Orange County coroner’s office, is intended to make young drivers think about the consequences of driving while drunk. Participants are sent here by judges as an alternative to probation.

Since the project began two years ago, it has received high praise from others in the state who want to copy the idea, said Chief Deputy Coroner James Beisner.

“These kids don’t need people to lecture to them,” Beisner said. “And kids who attend this program probably will not stop drinking. But they will think seriously about drinking and getting behind the wheel of an automobile. Deep down, either consciously or subconsciously, we may slow people down and save a life.”

In addition to witnessing autopsies, participants must work in a hospital trauma unit and a neurological rehabilitation center, and attend a Mothers Against Drunk Driving meeting. But most of the young drivers said the coroner’s tour and a corresponding graphic slide show are the most shocking part of their probation.

Throughout the tour, Rodriguez told the group that the mangled corpses in the slides and on the operating table were daily reality for those in medical rescue, forensic and law-enforcement fields.

“It really makes you realize how precious life really is and how it can be over in just seconds,” said a 24-year-old woman who identified herself only as Jill. She said she had been arrested for drunk driving after she drove into a ditch.

“This is a big slap in the face,” said George Gateas, 23, of San Marcos, who was attending the program on his own. “I was in a car accident a year ago and rolled over and that didn’t even scare me enough. But I don’t think I’ll forget this little tour for quite a while.”

Statistics on young drivers show that about half of all teen-agers killed on the road at night are in alcohol-related accidents. Drunk driving-related incidents are also the leading cause of death in the 16 to 24 age group, with an estimated nine deaths per day, nationwide, Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez, a street-wise Santa Ana native, was assigned to lead the once-monthly tours of the coroner’s facility. He also is in high demand for public-speaking engagements, which include the grisly slide presentation that was seen by 11,000 local high school students during a recent anti-drug,”Red Ribbon Week.”