A Plea to Not Drink and Drive During the Holidays

As the holiday season draws near, more people are having parties to celebrate. Some people like to just go out to the bar on the weekends to celebrate the holidays. As there is nothing wrong with either of these things, inevitably there will be someone climbing behind the wheel who doesn’t belong there, as your ability to make a rational decision is affected by alcohol. Although this person may be climbing behind the wheel of two thousand pounds of death, usually they are the ones that don’t get injured.
For instance, about three years ago a friend of mine, Michael Spann, was walking home from the bar with his friends. He was ahead of them, listening to his portable CD player, as was his nature. In his hand was his favorite “after a night of drinking” food, a box of Rigoberto’s Mexican. As his friends were walking along, they said a pickup sped past them. They could see the brake lights come on, thinking that the driver got a phone call, or a flat tire. After a couple minutes, the brake lights went off and the truck took off down the road. This was not an unusual thing to see out there, they lived in a house along Highway 34, just out of Corvallis.
By the time the group of friends had gotten home, there was no sign of Michael in the house. However, his bedroom door was closed so his friends thought that he had just gone in there to pass out.
The next morning there was still no sign of Michael, so one of the friends started banging on his bedroom door. There was no answer and he started getting a sick feeling in his stomach. He tried calling Michael’s cell phone three or four times in a row. No answer. Finally he broke one of the rules of the house and just went walking into the room. There was no sign of Michael in there either, but he saw something through the window. Out at the highway he could see flashing police lights.
He ran downstairs, already knowing the answers to the questions in his head, but hoping that he was wrong. There in the ditch next to the highway and right next to his own driveway was Michael’s body. They had walked right past the night before and hadn’t seen him.
As the events of the day transpired, the driver of the pickup turned himself into the police, claiming that he didn’t know he had hit anything, even though Michael was almost six feet tall and about 250 pounds. At the time of turning himself into the police, his Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) was still above the legal limit.
Through accident reconstruction, it was determined that the truck hit Michael on one side of his driveway and threw him to the other side. He had been hit so hard that it killed him instantly. Now there is a sign posted in his memory, asking people not to drink and drive. Michael was trying to do the responsible thing by walking home after spending a night out drinking. But, because someone else made a decision to get behind the wheel after a few too many, the responsible person is dead and the person who killed someone is free to live his life however he wants to.
So before you choose to climb behind the wheel this holiday season, think about what could happen, the possibility that you or someone else may not make it home to see their families because of your decision.