Drunk Driving Is Intent To Kill

It is one thing to play with a loaded gun while drunk in a room by yourself but to do so in public with no concern about the gun going off and killing the person sitting next to you, a child across the street or both is criminal and stupid at the most basic level. Drunk driving is no different–it is a deliberate use of force against others and oneself with a deadly instrument.

It is not as if the drunk driver is not aware of what he is doing. The daily news is full of the sudden and senseless tragedy that has befallen someone’s son, daughter, brother, sister, father or mother because someone else chose to get behind the wheel after getting drunk that day. These stories are repeated hundreds of times a day, every single day and yet hundreds of thousands of thoughtless people will drink, drive and kill or maim someone every year.

There are countless warnings in papers, on TV and in magazines every single day about how many drinks are too many but there is obviously something missing in the message because it seems like it is not getting through to hundreds of thousands of people. This is one more article put out there in the hope that someone, somewhere will read it and decide not to drive drunk and maybe, just maybe, save some precious life.

So what exactly is the definition of “drunk”? What most people don’t realize is that it is possible to be legally considered “impaired” by law even if one has not taken a single drink but has consumed some other substance that adversely affects one’s ability to drive safely. It may be an illegal drug or even a prescription medicine. The police can pull one over on mere suspicion that one is “driving under the influence (DWI)” if for example, one is driving erratically or weaving in or out of traffic lanes.

Many people who “feel OK” after a few drinks and decide to “chance it” don’t realize that all it takes is someone else to cause an accident, even a minor one, to land them in jail. The idiot behind you may cause a fender-bender. Some stupid dog may dash into the street and get under your wheels. A fool kid’s baseball may smash into your windshield. A tree limb may fall onto your car. These are all common events which in the normal course would be taken care of by the insurance companies and all would be well. But if you happen to have had a couple of drinks or more, you could have a jail record to your name for no fault of your own. And that would be the best case. In all likelihood, you would spend thousands defending yourself in court and even more in sharply higher insurance for years. You may lose your job because you can’t drive or find it difficult to get another one. In short, you would ruin your life and those of your loved ones. Is it worth it?

You decide.

Just in case you decide not to drive drunk, call a friend or a cab. And please pass the message along.