killed a 15-year-old boy and left two others with less serious injuries. as julie watts shows us, police believe alcohol was a factor. reporter: every 15 minutes, someone dies in an alcohol- related car accident. in april, the students at novato high participated in this simulation to illustrate that fact. but today, they re dealing with the real thing. we saw the bmw, the car they were driving, and it was going towards our school, and then the truck was behind it. and we saw like the helicopter and i saw the yellow tarp over. reporter: the crash site is now cleaned up. and a vigil stands in its place. with the picture of the 15-year- old boy who died here yesterday. among the flowers and the crosses, is a letter from his family, that begins, dear nephew, there is so much i hope to share with you. it is really sad. you don t have to know though though feel it. reporter: in the small town of novato everyone seems to be impacted by this tragic crash. but what makes it