Danielle's Story
The dangers of drunk
driving
A video for teens, made by teens
During a typical weekend, one teen dies each hour in an auto accident. Of these crashes 50 percent involved alcohol. (NHTSA, 1999)
Eight teens a day die in alcohol-related auto accidents. (SCAP, 1996)
Each year, nearly 16,000 people are killed, more than 305,000 people are injured and 1.5 million people are arrested because of drunk and drugged driving.
On May 6, 2001, Danielle and
Gilbert Gomez died suddenly when their car was hit by a speeding drunk driver as
they drove home from a vacation
to Disneyland with their family. Also injured in
the accident were their twin daughters, Marcella and Brandee, their son Gilbert
Jr. and Danielle's mother Diana Douglas.
Danielle Gomez was a counselor at the Center for Human Development in Pleasant Hill, California. Just a few weeks before the accident, Danielle put on the "Every 15 Minutes" program at Deer Valley High School in Antioch. This program involves high school Juniors and seniors with their parents and various emergency teams including police, CHP, fire, paramedics with ambulances and a helicopter, and the coroners office. Students participate in a reenactment of a multi-car accident caused by a drunk teen and actually have to go and live what it would be like to go to the hospital, jail or morgue. The students and parents have to write about their experience and feelings. The next day they present this to the school. This is a very emotional learning technique that does work.
Patti Garcia and Marsha Jacober from the Center of Human Development approached Ken Gaeta, producer at Silver Shadow Productions, to produce a video using Danielle's Story. They wanted the video to impact the lives of teens and make them think before getting behind the wheel after drinking alcohol or taking drugs.
Ken approached Bart Cox, old friend
and video production instructor at Deer Valley High School to coordinate with
his class to produce the video. In May of 2002, the students helped write the
script and then directed and shot the interviews in the Deer Valley Studio.
Graduation was coming fast and some of the students had to move on. One student,
Matt Epperson, worked with Ken one day a week through the summer and edited the
final product. Danielle's Story was released in April of 2003
during Drunk
Driving Awareness Month.
This video has been endorsed by the California Highway Patrol, Contra Costa County Health Service's Division of Alcohol and Other Drugs and the Center for Human Development. It is available to local school districts, youth advocacy groups, county health and alcohol prevention agencies, teen groups, youth counselors and teen parents for a nominal price of $24.95 for VHS and $29.95 for DVD to cover the duplication costs plus $5.00 shipping and handling. California residents must add 8¼% sales tax. You can send payment to Silver Shadow Productions, PO Box 177, Antioch, CA 94509. If you have any questions please call 925.757.1323 or email to ken@silvershadow.net