Drinking & Driving, Blood On The Highway

I have for the past several years been an opponent of drinking alcohol while driving, or driving under the influence of alcohol. I will be the first though to admit that I in the past have been guilty of this crime, but it was in my late teenage years and very early twenties, and I am now a near 47 year old man (Thanks to the Good Lord Watching Over Drunkards And Fools). But over I would say the last 20 years, drinking and driving has recieved alot of attention, alot of education has been taught in our schools of the dangers of drinking and driving. Then there is the M.A.D.D. Organization, an oranization originally formed by mothers of children that have been killed by alcohol related traffic accidents, they are a beacon of light when it comes to getting the knowlege out about driving under the influence. I myself am a member of M.A.D.D. I have spoken at the meetings and rallies for them. Why? Because I too am a victim of an alcohol related accident. I was hit head-on by a drunken driver when I was 22 years old and driving home from work one February evening. The impact and power of the collision I will never forget, slamming me into the dashboard and then through the windshield, breaking bones and fracturing my skull. The injuries were devastating, and the therapy and recovery were grueling to say the least, but fortunately I did survive by God's Grace. Since then I have been against drinking and driving, the accident which set me in the victims seat of such a terrible thing, made me see my own actions from the victims side, and it changed my life and conduct forever.
But this is not about me this time, for there was an accident in my small rural community in the dead of night on a lonely stretch of highway. Three teens riding in a pick-up truck under the influence of alcohol and traveling at an estimated speed of 90 miles per hour, lost control of the truck in a slight curve and veered over into the oncoming lane. When they did, a car carrying a man and his wife were coming from the other direction. They were so close there was no time for braking or swerving. The impact was upon them before they could blink.
I will first tell you of the victims of this terrible accident, the wife died from her injuries around 5:45 am. The husband is clinging to life in a very serious condition. They are parents to two small children, a daughter age 7 and another daughter age 4. These two children have lost their mother, and may very well now lose their father.
Now the teens that caused the accident by driving under the influence. Two of them, one the driver of the pick-up truck and the other a passenger in the truck, died instantly on impact. A third person in the truck also a passenger sitting in the middle of the seat, was critically injured, so badly that she was air lifted by medi-vac helicopter from the scene of the accident and rush flown to the trauma center in Jackson, Mississippi, where she is listed in very critical condition, she is in a coma, she has multiple cuts all about her body, multiple broken bones including a skull fracture with brain injury, and her left arm was severed just below her shoulder in the accident and cannot be re-attached. She has been given little chance of surviving her injuries and that if miraculously she does survive them, it is never expected for her body to function properly again, she will need assistance for the rest of her life.
Learning of this devastating accident makes me think about the times that I too rolled the dice on not only my own life but the lives of innocent others and chose to drink and drive. No one on earth has the right to do that. Not to defend my actions back then, because there is no defense for them. Back then though there was little taught about the dangers of drinking and driving.
However today things are way different than they were when I was teenager. It is taught in schools about the dangers of drinking and driving. It is in commercials on television, it is on the news, it is on billboards along the highways, police and other law enforcement agencies set up road blocks in an effort to catch drunk drivers. Most if not all police departments have special units set aside named D.U.I. Task Force who's prime goal is to cruise around the streets watching for irradic driving, in hopes of catching drunk drivers and taking them off the streets. The knowlege of drinking and driving now days is everywhere we look.
For teenagers it's everywhere they look as well, magazines they read run ads about drinking and driving, movie trailers often have a small segment about the dangers of it. They are taught it as I said in school. There is no reason now for anyone not to understand fully how wrong this is, and how dangerous it is and that by drinking and driving it does not only consider You, the other drivers out there on the streets are a concern about it as well.
In one of my comments while speaking at a M.A.D.D. seminar and rally, I made the comment, that "Drinking And Driving Is Exactly The Same As Standing Off From A Crowd Of People And Firing A Rifle Bullet Into The Crowd, For Awhile You May Be Lucky And Not Harm Anyone Or Be Caught, But If You Continue To Fire, Eventually You Will Hit Someone."
Drinking and driving is no different from that, if you do it enough times, you will end up hurting someone, or killing someone, and that someone may very well be yourself.
Have enough respect for yourself not to endanger yourself by drinking and driving, care enough about your loved ones not to leave them in the pain of losing you, and have enough respect for the other drivers out there on the highway, not to choose on your own to place them in danger. There is blood up there on the highway, make certain your not the next one to spill it, by making sure you never choose again to drink and drive!