I remember all of the lectures, motivational speakers and guidance counselors telling us never to drink and drive. If we were at a party, call a friend first, a taxi or, the worst, your parents. In driver’s ed, a trauma nurse came in to show us images of what people who drink and drive can do to themselves and others.
Acceptance of drunk driving is detrimental to relationships and lives
I remember all of the lectures, motivational speakers and guidance counselors telling us never to drink and drive. If we were at a party, call a friend first, a taxi or, the worst, your parents. In driver’s ed, a trauma nurse came in to show us images of what people who drink and drive can do to themselves and others.
The nurse showed us the incredible responsibility we put on ourselves each time we get behind the wheel. So why is it, after so much effort and so many reminders, that people are still drinking and driving drunk?
On the news this week, a woman in Idaho was convicted of her 13th drunk driving offense. That’s right, the same person has been cited 13 times for drinking and driving, and who knows how many other times she’s done it without getting caught.
Her recent conviction stems from an incident earlier in the year where she T-boned another car.
One month later, she was in a single-car accident and was again cited for having a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit. It’s amazing that she hasn’t killed someone yet. It’s ridiculous for two reasons: She wasn’t punished harsh enough with her first offense and she is so irresponsible to not ensure the safety of others around her.
In Oregon, we have much harsher penalties at a lower line of offense. Convicted of a DUI, people can expect anything off of a hefty list of punishments, including jail time, license revocation, installing an ignition interlock device for one to two years or alcohol treatment, just to name a few for the first offense.
Most people don’t receive that intense of a punishment to begin with, but you can guarantee that by a third offense, those people will remember to not do it next time.
On some level, it’s easy to see how drunk driving occurs. You’re at a party, had a couple drinks, feel good but not stupid, and think you’re safe to drive home. It can be extremely tricky to know the level of alcohol you’ve consumed, but in reality it’s your responsibility to know your alcohol levels based on your body.
If you know that you’re an unreliable drinker, you should be able to take action while you’re sober, as in not driving to where you’re going to drink or set up a designated driver among your friends before you go.Yet, even people who understand their level of drunkenness get so far gone that they are, frankly, stupid.
I used to judge these people pretty harshly, until I went out just last Halloween. I carpooled with a friend who said she wanted to drive and leave early. This all changed once we got to the party and she had a drink, then two, then three.
Fortunately, when I saw her down the second I stopped drinking, preparing for the drive home. Not only did she stay late and have a lot to drink, when she was finally ready to go home, she insisted she was fine.
If we hadn’t carpooled, I don’t think anyone would have argued with her. So, even people who are prepared to be responsible make mistakes and completely misjudge their driving ability.
We know that drunk people are not in the correct frame of mind to make life decisions. We would never take the advice of a drunk person on our current relationships, our employment or anything that holds some value in our life, so why would we believe a drunk person about their own state of being, meaning their ability to drive, if we wouldn’t believe anything else that they would say?
Drinking alone bears its own level of responsibility, once you add driving into the equation, one drink could be the difference between going home safely or crashing your car and getting arrested for driving under the influence.
I’ve heard many people say that it won’t happen to them, but I’ve also seen the people it happens to. Even celebrities aren’t exempt, as we’ve seen Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan arrested for DUIs, and even Sandra Bullock and her husband were victims of a drunk driver. So it doesn’t just happen to some people with bad luck, but it happens to everyone.
If you drink and drive you are not only embarrassing yourself and potentially endangering the lives of others, you are making a statement that your life is so inconsequential that it is completely acceptable to risk it on the road.
If you know that someone is drunk and let them drive anyway, you are just as much to blame for what happens as the person that drove. Just like bartenders have to cut intoxicated people off at the point of visual drunkenness, for fear of liability if anything happens to them, the consequences of drinking and driving don’t end with one person.
