Drunk Driving

I read a post on Facebook yesterday about a close relative of a friend who was very seriously injured after his car was plowed into by a drunk driver. Just the day before I saw a post with photos of a just-turned twenty-one year-old doing shots of tequila. And, if you have fb friends of college age you will routinely see photos and comments laced with beer and drinks and good times. Been there, done that, as the saying goes.

I don't know the guy who got pulverized by a grossly intoxicated driver. I do know a lot of the college age people I see on fb are responsible individuals with an eye to their future. I'm sure all of them have grown up with the "Don't drink and drive" manifesto drilled into their thirsty brains since, really, probably grade school. I'm very certain none of them-- or any of us-- ever thinks we could possibly be responsible for an alcohol related accident.

My own daughter will turn 21 this year and I'm not terribly worried. I think she's smart, well informed, conscientious. But her Dad certainly has been out driving after drinking on well over one occasion. And I knew better. And I had all the right information to tell me better. And still, I did. It is only by good grace and dumb luck that I was never stopped, never crashed, never killed or injured anybody.

The point is, we all know better. If you're literate, you know better. If you watch TV, you know better. And yet it continues.

I don't know what will ever stop it, if anything. I don't drink anymore so I won't be out there putting anyone at risk-- unless I can't fight the urge to check an e-mail en-route. But, for the time being, I am grateful every time someone posts these sad stories to social media. I have to think that, with every such post, at least one person will get the message, and maybe a couple more will share it, and maybe, just maybe, one accident will be avoided, one parent will make it home safely, and one dad will sleep better at night.