Serious Message- Please read this (DWI)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Last night while returning home from our company Christmas party, my husband and I witnessed a terrible accident.

I was driving up a two lane road coming home, and the person in front of us was all over the road. As we called the police, she started crossing back and forth between the lanes, weaving terribly. She was taking out mailboxes, fenceposts, and driving on lawns as she did. Finally she picked a lane to drive in- the oncoming lane.

A carload of teenagers was coming the other way. I flashed my highbeams at them in a panic, hoping they would see me or her in time.

FORTUNATELY they did. They were able to pull over into a field- they missed each other by mere feet. She then swerved hard right and drove directly into a house.

I went right over to see how she was while my husband checked on the kids in the other car. They were just shook up and left. She was in very bad shape- bleeding badly from the head, blood all over her (looked like she hit the windshield or steering wheel). She couldn’t move much, but she could talk.

She kept saying to me “Wow, I really fucked up, right? I really fucked up”. Her speech was so slurred I had to ask her to repeat herself. I told her yes, she sure did- but she was alive and no one else got hurt, that was all that was important right now. I bent in close to look at her and see if there was anything I could do. She REEKED of alcohol, there were beer cans on the floor of the car, and she just kept drifting away.

The police took a statement, etc. All I could think of was what if those kids hadn’t been able to pull off the road? It would have been 3 dead teens plus a dead driver for sure. It was a very sad scary scene, and that brings me to my point.

For the love of God and humanity, don’t drink and drive. Anything can happen. Call a cab, get a designated driver, stay at a hotel. See if your city offers free rides from cab or tow companies. Do anything except getting behind the wheel. There are lots of parties this time of year and I know you hear this a lot, but I’m begging you. Please don’t.

And, if you see someone impared, take a stand and take the keys. Disable the vehicle. Call the police. Any of these options are better then running into a carload of teens or a house, believe me. A drunk might put up a fight (I was once pushed down and hit for taking a friends keys. I still didn’t give 'em back), but it’s better then seeing them dead.

Take care and have a safe holiday.
Zette

2

BIG APPLAUSE

Yes! WHATEVER you have to do, do it. I’ve lost friends to drinking and driving. My brother was killed by a chemically impaired driver. My sister has (had? We don’t know if this has changed yet) a penchant for drunk driving and almost killed herself.

I don’t mind that people want to drink or do other chemicals but don’t drive the fucking car when you are done! It puts everyone else at risk. I don’t know how many times I’ve gotten up in the dead of night to go pick some friends up at a bar to get them safely home. I did this GLADLY. I will do it in the future. GLADLY. If I’ve been drinking myself, I’ll call a cab and pay for it.

This made me think about the Houston Dopers meeting; if not for having a designated driver I’m quite certain we would have been kicked out of that bar. But Sealemon88 took that role and made it possible for the rest of us to indulge and still be safe. Thanks Sealemon88. I think anyone who takes on the role of designated driver deserves a HUGE pat on the back.

PS Zette? I’m glad you are okay. I’m glad you stopped a bad thing from getting worse. Santa will put a little extra in your stocking this year. :slight_smile:

Best!
Byz

3

DWI is one the most irresponsible things a person can do. I loved my dad, but to this day, I can vividly remember the drive from Galveston to Houston at night, after our fishing jaunt in the Gulf Of Mexico. I was around 9 or 10, and I had to derect us home; my dad was too intoxicated.

I’m blessed really:

  1. I know when I’m drunk, and will willingly, nay insist, that someone I know take my keys. I refuse to drive drunk.
  2. I’m enough of a goober that I can be the designated driver and still have fun.

Byz: No problem;I had a blast. If I had known we’d be at that resturant for 8 hours, I’d probably have had a couple more ritas. Or not. Drinking just isn’t that big of a deal to me. <shrug>

Zette and Byz are completely right: For God’s sake, get a cab, get a friend, get a family member to drive you home.

You say “cheesy” like that’s a BAD thing.

4

I’m really lucky because my husband doesn’t drink so I have a sort of built-in designated driver. Otherwise, if I’m going out with other friends or whatever, I don’t even take my car if I know I’m going to be drinking. That’s one of the reasons I insisted the Bay Area meeting was easily accessable by several forms of public transit. It’s too easy to say you’ll only have a drink or two because you have to drive, then keep drinking because you forget or lose count. (I’m guessing most people don’t hold “a drink or two” as well as they assume they do, either.)

5

Nice job Zette!

If this thread makes someone, somewhere think twice before driving under the influence, it may have saved a life or two.

Wishing all you at the SDMB Happy Xmas and a GREAT 2000 and beyond!

6

Yay Zette! Yay Sealemon! Do you guys realize you probably * saved lives * by what you each did? I’m proud of you both!

-Leslie

Leslie Irish Evans
http://leslie.scrappy.net

7

In my part of the world a cab ride home from any bar I’m likely to visit costs about what one more pint does.

Or, as friend put it, refering to his DWI, “I could’ve bought 3,000 taxi rides for what that cost me!”

8

Ditto on the DWI. I was a victim of a hit & run the day before yesterday. The guy must have been drunk because there’s NO WAY he couldn’t have seen me otherwise. He took a quick left in front of me to turn into an apartment complex. His passenger is lucky though, if it weren’t for me slamming on my brakes and delaying the impact (it was wet, so I didn’t slow down much, just delayed it), I would have T-boned him right on the passenger side and at least put him in the hospital if not killed him.

As I was crossing the street to approach the car (I was pissed to say the least, but I wasn’t going to get violent unless provoked) the guy took off and I couldn’t even get his license plate because it was dark and raining. I couldn’t give chase because half my bumper was hanging down in front of my car and there was heavy traffic besides. Lucky for me I opted for the $50 deductible instead of the $500. :slight_smile:

9

I’m so glad to read that you and everyone else survived that accident, Zette! And thank you for posting this message. I am always the designated driver because, a) I learned early on that I can actually have more fun sober than drunk and can actually remember what a great time I had, and b) because I would never forgive myself if I knowingly let someone drive home drunk and they or others were killed because of it.

At our company holiday party last week, not only did I have to take keys away from people, but I also found rides home for people, drove someone else’s car home for them and dropped two people off along the way. And of course everyone was sick as a dog the next day except me.

I can’t express enough how much I hate people who are so callous towards the safety of others that they get behind the wheel of a car drunk.

May everyone here enjoy happy and safe holidays!

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” - Anne Frank

10

That story scared the hell out of me. It’s amazing how some people don’t even think twice before they know they are going to go out drinking.

My boyfriend’s roommate recently turned 21, I would guess about 4 months ago. This buttface has already recieved 3 DUI’s in as many months…thank God he didn’t kill anyone.

Here’s a suggestion that one of my builders (I was a window and door sales rep for a while) parties – if a company is having a holiday party, summer picnic or whatever and it involves drinking, I recommend that the company hire a bunch of teens (responsible ones anyway) to get people home safely.

That was one hell of a way for the kids to make some money and to ensure that everyone got home safely.

BTW, the way it worked was, there would be a team of two teens. One would drive your car home, the other would follow to take them back to the party to drive more people home. All the builder asked was that we give the kids a tip.

Mention this to your boss or if you are a boss to do this. A company can’t afford that kind of liablity anyway.

11

In my opinion people who drive drunk should be strung up. I’ve had an uncle and close friend killed by idiots who are irresponsible.

We have a program designed for junior high students here called P.A.R.T.Y. which is put on by the city police and one of the hospitals. The kids spend a whole day learning about the reality of drunk driving.

They watch graphic videos, visit emergency, ambulances, have guest speakers who have been disabled by impaired drivers and then at lunch are given a simulated disability that they must follow through while having their meal ie., blindness by wearing black glasses, one arm bound and a spoon brace, etc.

Out of the groups that have gone in the past few years, when the kids have returned, you can always tell the impact their day has had on them and hopefully they will stick with their, “i would never do that” statements in the future.

I opened the door, and look who I found. Damn I’m good

12

Sue:

The only problem with the kids is alternatives. Such things probably won’t stop most of them from drinking, do they do? Call Mom and Dad?

Parents, while letting children know that drinking is NOT ok, need to also let them know that what is INFINITELY worse is to drive once their drunk or ride with someone who is, and that kids can call their parents if they are in tht kind of situation with no way out without having to worryt about the roof falling in on them.

Secondly: Drunk drivers, especially adult drunk drivers, should burn in hell.

Close behind them should be cell phone chatters.

I know it may LOOk like I’m not doing anything, but at the cellular level, I’m actually quite busy,

13

Hi Zette
I am glad that it turned as well as it did and that nobody was killed.
I was in a wreak with a drunk driver about four years ago.
It happened less than a block from home as I was driving to the local store.
A drunk driver passed a car stoped at a stop sign running the sign and plowing into the car I was driving.
Luckly nobody was hurt badly but both cars were totaled.
After the police arrived I was informed that the other driver had 6 prior DWI arrests.
If you are going to drink don’t drive!

Peace
t lion

" I Wonder What Happens When I push THIS Button? "

14

Stoidela, you may be right, but if the message gets across to even just one of them, then mission accomplished and one less asshole on the streets killing people.

I opened the door, and look who I found. Damn I’m good

15

This reminds me, I need to get my license. I don’t normally hang out with people who are drinking, but I’d like to be able to drive them home if the situation arises.
Anyway, I too have a story. I think it was two years ago, when Carl witnessed a drunk driving accident. Two or three people were riding in the back of a pick-up truck late at night, when the driver smashed them into another car. Those in the back were thrown out, and one girl broke her neck so badly that her spine was sticking out of the back of her neck. The man in the other car was trapped inside, and the car caught fire before he could be rescued. Carl and a few others tried to help until the emergency workers arrived, but I think that the only person who was not killed or permanently injured was the drunk driver.
I think that is enormously unfair. Why should his innocent (although stupid) friends, and the completely innocent man in the other car, be killed or injured rather than the man who caused it all?

Cessandra

Killed a man with no hands. . .

16

I told my roommate this one thing (and one thing only since I was furious at him and felt ready to regret any subsequent actions) when I caught him driving home after a “COUPLE” too many drinks:

  • “If you ever feel the need to drive home again, as drunk as you are right now, and don’t kill yourself in doing so; don’t come anywhere near me because I’ll gladly finish you off.”

It was the only time I’d threatened to – ahem – “remove someone from the gene pool” for their actions. I’d never been as angry as that in my life. I really haven’t.

DWI left its lesson with me just prior to my 12th birthday. Highway 3 between Cranbrook and Fernie, BC, Canada; Apr 1986. The car that hit us was a Toyota driven by two drunks who decided to see how fast their car could go on the straightaways. They hit my family’s car at around 140km/h (with all six of us in our car).

I sustained the worst of the injuries: 5 teeth knocked out (you want “trauma”? Try looking at your teeth – roots and all – sitting next to you when you regain consciousness a few seconds after the collision) and a chipped pelvic bone.

Nothing like holes in the mouth when you try to “fit in” with others your age in school.

Anyhow, I’ve been “designated driver” for all of the time that I’ve had my driver’s license since that accident. No one drives TO the bar if they plan on having any drinks that night. That way they get a chauffeur for the night out of me (and I don’t mind in the least – unless you annoy me because I’ll force you to take the taxi home since you won’t be getting home by any other method…).

Zette: Sorry about stealing the stage from you. You’re virtually a saint already for doing all that you could do to stop the situation from getting any worse.

I just felt the need to get that off my chest. I simply have no respect for anyone whatsoever who (a) may know their limits but chooses to ignore them anyway and (b) endangers other people’s lives in doing so.

In closing, just to contribute something constructive to the conversation: In my not-so-humble opinion, anyone who gets caught drinking & driving should lose their license for life. Period. No convictions necessary, just the signs that you’re intoxicated (obvious signs plus blowing into the brethalizer).

17

Thank you Zette for the message. My husband’s father was killed by a drunk driver when my husband was 14.

We visited his grave a few years ago and even though I didn’t know the man, I began to cry. There are so many things denied to him (seeing his children grow up, gradute, get married, and have children) because someone had too many drinks and got behind the wheel to drive.

“Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.”

18

Okay, I’m gonna pop in again due to some mail I got about my sister. Why some people will send me e-mail but not post directly to the board is beyond me but since you are too shy here is your answer:

She has one drunk driving conviction; she was weaving on the way to work and was pulled over. Thank God she didn’t hurt herself, or God forbid, anyone else. She hit a 2.2 on the Breathalyzer. The judge hit her as hard as he could and I wrote him a letter THANKING him for doing so.

She went into AA: None of us really understood how deep her drinking problem was. Yes, we knew she drank. I did not know she felt the need and necessity to drink prior to going to work. She lost her licence for a year and, yes this really fucking hurts to say, a year to the DAY she got her license back she drove her brand new car to my father’s house in Utah and drank vodka the entire way.

She lost control of the car and damn near killed herself by driving it off a cliff and into the Colorado River. The two things that survived? Her and the bottle of booze she’d been sucking on. If that isn’t the universe giving you a major, in the face, lesson I don’t know what is.

Because of the actions of my father this was covered up and basically dismissed. I don’t think he did her any favors. I believe that for sometime after this, she continued to drink and drive. However, she has made major life changes of late and as I don’t speak to her I do not know if she has changed. I’d like to think she has. She has a hell of a long way to go to win back my trust and respect.

By saying that about my sister I want to clarify that I DO NOT support drunk driving. How ANYONE got that from what I said I do not know. But again. And let me yell it at you: DRUNK DRIVING IS NOT AN EXCUSABLE OFFENCE, NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE. Okay, as long as that clears it up.

FYI I also think, BEFORE you go out for a night on the town, you should make driving arrangements while you are SOBER. I do not wait for someone else to volunteer. I make sure my ass is covered BEFORE I take the first drink.

19

When you are sober? Remember when people have been drinking their personality changes & they forget what arrangements they made when they were sober & they often have a horrid aggressiveness you’d have to deal with.

You won’t find anyone sober who says that we should all drink and drive, but give them some drinks and see them change in that area.

20

I’m glad my message, at the very least, brought this issue back to the front of everyones mind. And yes, we’ve all encountered hostile/beligerant drunks. In that case if you are simply unable to get their car keys away, I suggest disabling the car (if you can) or just calling the police (in front of them, if possible). If they just left, call the police and tell them what they’re driving and where they’re going.

We can all do our part to help out with this problem, starting with never doing it ourselves, and stepping in when you see it occuring. It could be YOUR family driving in the oncoming lane next time.

This whole thing certainly has shaken me and made me realize how easily bad judgement can affect others lives.

Zette

Love is like popsicles…you get too much you get too high.

Not enough and you’re gonna die…
Click here for some GOOD news for a change Zettecity