MOCK CRASH, REAL IMPACT DRUNK DRIVING EXERCISE AT A.V. HIGH DRIVES HOME POINT TO KIDS, PARENTS.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Teenagers lined the street in front of Antelope Valley High School to watch as five schoolmates were pulled from the wreckage of a mock car crash staged in an antidrunk driving program.

The Every 15 Minutes program - named for the frequency at which Americans die in alcohol-related crashes - is done at high schools around the nation in an effort to show students and their parents the impact of drinking and driving, usually coinciding with graduation party time.

``This seems so real,'' said Glynis Burton, mother of two of the students who played roles in the mock crash. ``It makes me want to cry. He (son Kevin Johnson) didn't tell me he was going to die at the scene. He shocked me with that.''

Johnson and another student played dead in the crash scene acted out Thursday afternoon on Division Street. Two other students pretended to be seriously injured and were loaded into an ambulance to Antelope Valley Hospital, where the parents of one student would be told that their child ``died.'' The fourth went through the experience of being treated in the hospital critical care unit.

Another teenager, portraying the drunk driver, was handcuffed and taken to the Lancaster sheriff's station, where he went through the standard booking procedure - including getting placed in a jail cell.

The ``dead'' are taken in a coroner's van to a nearby mortuary and then they tour the coroner's office.

Earlier on Thursday, school counselor Sam Abraham - dressed as the Grim Reaper - visited classrooms to pull out students representing the people killed ``every 15 minutes.''

Their faces painted with white makeup, those students stood through the mock crash. Thursday night they stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Palmdale, where they wrote farewell letters to friends and family.

``I thought it was a great opportunity for people to see the effects of drinking and driving,'' said Levi Leishman, 18, who joined the ranks of the 'undead' early in the day. ``I've always been really gung-ho on the idea of keeping teens sober so I jumped at the chance to do this.''

The program concludes today with a ceremony in which the students will read their letters and talk about what it was like to ``die'' without being able to say goodbye.

Parents are asked to write an obituary for their child and then read them to the child's class.

``At first, I wasn't sure I wanted to do this,'' Burton said. ``I had to write the obituary and that was so hard. My son said, 'Mom, what if you have to do it for real.' I told him it was real so I didn't want to do it. This definitely convinced me.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) A firefighter works to get to a victim Thursday in a pretend crash at Antelope Valley High, part of the Every 15 Minutes program.

(2 -- color) School counselor Sam Abraham is dressed as the Grim Reaper at a mock car crash at Antelope Valley High.

(3 -- color) Students with their faces painted white represent people killed ``every 15 minutes'' during Thursday's exercise.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer