Students get a lesson on drunk driving

Kyle Alvarez was reading his own obituary in front of a full auditorium when he broke down in tears.

Asked to speak as if he had lost his own life in a drunk-driving crash, the 18-year-old thanked his parents for their love and support.

The exercise was part of the two-day “Every 15 Minutes” program held at Burbank High School last week, which included a live simulation of an emergency response to a drunk-driving collision, a memorial for those who were simulated to have lost their lives and presentations by parents who have lost their children in real car crashes.

PHOTOS: Burbank students receive a dramatic lesson on dangers of drunk driving

Designed to educate youth about the dangers of impaired driving, the exercise, which cost more than $20,000, was funded by donations from the Burbank Police Foundation, as well as by a state Office of Traffic Safety grant.

The program began on Wednesday morning, when every 15 minutes on the dot, Principal Michael Bertram announced over the PA system — which reaches the school’s roughly 2,600 students — that a student had died in a drunk-driving crash.

After the announcement, someone dressed as the Grim Reaper would visit the “deceased” student’s classroom and pull them out of class. Later that morning, the students watched police and fire officials respond to the simulated drunk-driving crash.

The next day, a video showed what led up to the staged crash. In the video, several students — including Alvarez, who played the drunk driver in the video — were passing around and swigging from a large bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey in the boys’ locker room. Shortly after, Alvarez and his friends got into a car and drove away, eventually crashing into a bicyclist and another car.

In the video, Burbank police and fire officials responded to the scene and arrested Alvarez while taking the victims away on gurneys. Later, the video shows him being sentenced to 25 years in prison.

While the crash and deaths were staged, the exercise felt all too real for several Burbank teens, who in the last two years lost eight classmates in two separate collisions in which alcohol or drugs were a factor.

“It’s not a joke. It’s reality,” Alvarez said. The night of the 2013 crash that claimed the lives of five young people — one of whom was a friend — Alvarez had gone out and traveled down the same road to get home as those who perished.

When Alvarez was first approached about playing the drunk driver, he hesitated. But he agreed to play the part after realizing that he had the opportunity to make a lasting impact on his fellow classmates. That turned out to be true, if for no one more than himself.

“It has changed my life,” he said, vowing never to get in the car with a driver who’s been drinking.

The message came just a few days before the school’s prom, which was no coincidence.

“In recent years, we’ve all been hit hard by this epidemic,” Bertram told his students. “I want to see each and every one of you on Monday.”

A mother who lost her two sons in a reckless driving accident also shared her story, leaving many in the auditorium in tears.

“Imagine spending $20,000 on funeral expenses instead of college,” said Alice Renolds, who lost her teenage sons in a crash 15 years ago. “The pain never goes away.”