The sunlight beamed through my window, waking me up to the sound of birds chirping in the tree outside. It felt just like any other morning to my happy ten-year-old self. Three days had passed since Christmas, and I was still relishing my new presents and Christmas break. As I entered into my living room, my brother Corbin was watching TV and who snuggled up in his favorite brown blanket. I made myself comfortable on the floor in front of him, when his phone rang. The call appeared to be my brother's friend since kindergarten, Ulu, who lived in Texas. As they proceeded to talk, I watched Corbin's face fill with confusion and concern. He had called to ask my brother if his best friend and our next door neighbor, Danny, had died. Corbin knew …show more content…
He did not say a word. He leaned against the back of the couch with his arms crossed and then told us that Danny was dead. He was struck by a drunk driver while riding his skateboard home the night before. My mom and I broke down in disbelief, unable to control the tears streaming down our faces. This boy, this innocent fourteen-year-old boy, so full of life, who was like my second brother, who could light up any room, made everyone feel like they had a lifelong friend, was gone. I kept repeating "I just saw Danny ride his skateboard down the street yesterday." Corbin was motionless, his breathing was slow, and his chest barely moving. It felt like I was watching his heart rip out from his chest. He showed no emotion, he simply stood speechless with his head down, staring at the floor beneath …show more content…
These types of tragedies can be avoided. There are many ways to prevent situations similar to this involving drivers under the influence. "In 2009, the year that Danny was killed, there were 10,839 alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities"(NHTSA’s). We were just one family hurt by this, one community reminded of the fragility of life, one mother that has to outlive her child. That same mother has lived through this tragedy twice, that cannot sink in enough. She was forced to bury her two young boys, ripped from her because someone made the choice to drive under the influence of alcohol. "Driver's with a BAC level of .08 or higher in fatal crashes were eight times more likely to have a prior conviction for driving while impaired than were drivers with no alcohol."(NHTSA’s) The driver who killed Danny, who stole a part of my brother's innocence, who took a mother's child, had already been arrested for driving under the
Drunk driving is a very serious problem. I don’t understand why someone would do something so stupid. Just looking at the “Lives Affected” video really struck home to me how it really does effect these people’s lives. They were all so devastated and dumbfounded about how and why someone would do something that stupid and risk other’s lives around them including their loved ones. In the video “Lives Affected,” one of the stories was about a woman and her husband getting killed in an accident that involved a drunk driver. She was so devastated and heartbroken because she loved this man and to have his life taken by a drunk driver was sad. She could barely tell her story because she was crying and so sad to even think about what happened. There was another
Now a day, driving while intoxicated has become America’s deadliest crime. There were more than 11,000 alcohol-impaired deaths in 2008, sadly those death were preventable if we had more severe Laws against this issue. Drivers are well aware of the Laws and consequences against drunk driving, especially after destroying families due to their carelessness decision. Victims’ Families entire life are ruined because of the sudden death of their loved one, and they are never going to be able to reclaim their normal life, while the offenders after a few days in prison reclaims he’s normal life. As a result of our fragile criminal justice system everyday road users share the road with repeat offenders who are highly resistant to change their
One can say that the modern movement for holding drivers who take to the road under the under influence of alcohol was created by the death of fourteen year old Cari Lightner on the third of May 1980 in Fair Oaks California. She and her friend were on their way to a local carnival walking in the bike lane where she was hit by a driver who had swerved into the lane the impact threw her 125 feet. It was later revealed that the driver had only minutes before had been drinking in a local bar. Disturbingly he already had three convictions for what was then called drunk driving and did not stop after hitter her. Even with rapid medical intervention Cari was unable to survive due to multiple traumatic injuries.
Imagine the idea of a college student driving back to her dorm from the grocery store. She waits patiently for the light to turn green as she sings to her favorite song on the radio. Finally, its time for her to go and she accelerates through the intersection. Little did she know a man that had too many drinks would come flying through the red light. The last thing she saw was the headlights of his car. Drunk driving is a heartbreaking occurrence. Every day drunk drivers are imprisoned, either for traffic violations, dangerous driving, or accidents. People that make the mistake of drinking and driving not only put themselves in danger; they put all of the other people on the roads in danger. Innocent lives may be lost because of another’s
I couldn't believe as i entered the room that her body was just laying on the floor with four knives in the back of her neck. To get back to this point let me telling how and why we are currently in this situation. Its was a causal day in the life of Alex who attend Triad math and science academy. One day he left his creative writing class and went to the restroom. While in the restroom he got side tracked and began talking to Jasper who also had the same class. Once they knew it already 10 minutes passed while they were talking.
"The problem with drinking and driving is the mourning after", a very simile quote has such a huge meaning behind it, in my family's case we got off lucky. It was a late night, my father received the phone call, I don't think I've seen that look ever in his eyes the 18 years I've been alive. It was about his brother he had gotten in a very catastrophic accident after making the horrible choice to drink and drive. It seemed like the longest drive to Dallas which is where my uncle was airlifted to go into surgery. We arrived at the hospital and were told he was unconscious so I waited in the waiting room with my cousins to comfort them while my aunt and dad were in the room with my uncle. After sitting in the gloomy waiting room for what seemed life forever I decided to take my cousins home we stopped by to get food. His choice to drink and drive was a very bad one, he was unfit to make such a big choice while not in the correct state of mind he had alcohol in his system and lots of it, he had no right to endanger not only his life but every other person that was around him while he was driving. Statistics show that Texas is the leading state for drunk driving cases and Harris county alone had 362 deaths in 2015 alone, driving under the influence not only has physical damage that can be done there's the emotional side that people have to deal with and what the families go through, drunk driving has more effects than just what just meets the eye. Drunk drivers
We stay at the beach for a day and have a lot of fun together. Dylann's eyes glow and I've never seen him this happy. The whole day was magical.
Alcohol-impaired driving fatalities were 1,028 in 2008 for the state of California (Century Council). Of those deaths, 68% of the drivers were considered “Hardcore Drunk Drivers”; drivers who had a BAC level of 0.15+ (Century Council). Unfortunately, the drivers who got behind the wheel of those vehicles now have to deal with the fact that they slaughtered a person(s), because they made the choice to drive their car when they knew they had consumed alcohol.
So many lives are lost to individuals driving under the influence, no matter where they’re going or what’s important to drive when severely intoxicated it’s never an acceptable choice. Alaska will never be able to keep her promise or ever make it to her mother's grave he friends guilt and sadness build up that they could have stopped her and said she was way to drunk to drive but didn’t say a word. They would've never known that night would be their last moments together.
There are things we can and must do to prevent drunk driving as much as we can and eventually completely cut it out. We have to look at the facts and statics and not let those around us, our friends, our families become victims of drunk driving. Weather they’re the ones that take part in driving under the influence or are killed or injured even though sober due to someone else’s selfish drunk driving actions there has got to be a stop to all of this. Laws can only do so much, it’s up to us to decide to take part in no drinking and driving. It is not a good feeling to see headlines talking about collisions or fatalities that occurred due to drunk driving and the feeling is even worse when you personally know the people involved. Let’s keep drunk driving from happening, let’s help put a stop to those stories you hear that were caused by people driving under the influence. In this time and age there is no excuse for drunk driving. WAKE UP, HELLO have a designated driver, call an Uber, a taxi, a reliable friend or family member, stay the night if you can at the place where you were drinking, anything just do anything but drink and
In 2013, 10,076 people were killed in drunk driving incidents. Out of those people, 65% (6,515) were drivers, 27% (2,724) were passengers, and 8% (837) were non-passengers (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). Over half of those fatalities (67.1%) involved blood alcohol levels over .15% (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). The legal blood-alcohol content is .08%. Drunk driving caused 31% of deaths in car crashes in 2013 (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). In 2012, 402 people were killed by alcohol impairment in North Carolina (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). These numbers, though they seem astonishing, have been cut in half since 1991 (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). Even though the number of fatalities has been lowered, that number is not low enough. Most drunk drivers are repeat offenders. Lives are being taken because of the careless attitude of the drunk drivers. Drunk driving is selfish; those who commit this crime do not think about the extreme consequences of their actions. In North America it is estimated that 1-5 drivers has been drinking and 1 in 10 is legally impaired on any Friday or Saturday night (Root). Many groups, including MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), are fighting to stop drunk driving. Unfortunately, drunk driving cannot be stopped. People will always commit this heinous crime. The numbers may go down, but unfortunately there will always be a number. The only way to continually decrease the amount of lives lost is to increase punishments for drunk driving.
Driving under the influence of alcohol has been a major issue in America, spanning all the way back to more than 50 years ago (Raymond). Many accidents are caused from drinking and driving yearly, resulting in thousands of deaths and injuries involving innocent people. When alcohol is mixed with driving a motor vehicle, there are no limits to who may be at risk. This means that drunk driving has been harming, hurting and killing many innocent people in America. Over the years I have witnessed many aftermaths of drunk driving accidents and have heard of multiple accidents resulting from alcohol use involving people I know, and people I do not know. Sometimes, in accidents like these, all parties involved may walk away from the accident with
Would you get in the car with a driver that was drinking and driving? “In 2013, a total of 1,149 children 14 and under were killed in motor vehicle accidents. Of those 1,149 fatalities, 200 (17%) occurred in alcohol impaired driving crashes. Out of those 200 deaths, 121 (61%) were occupants of vehicles with drivers who had BAC’s of .08 or higher (MADD - Drunk Driving Statistics).” Just ask yourself whether it would be worth it to get into a car with a drunk person because everyday people get in the car with drunk drivers and are killed or injured. Each year approximately 16,000 people are killed in alcohol related crashes. While some people might say the driver that was drinking wasn’t in the right mindset and they didn’t know what they were doing, the decision of drinking and driving will stick with you your whole
Driving under the influence of alcohol has affected and devastated countless people’s lives. Driving under the influence is one of the most dangerous situations you can put yourself or someone else into. The evidence against driving while intoxicated is massive and it has left a long trail of broken dreams and lives. If you drink and drive, not only do you possibly put yourself at risk, but your passengers and pedestrians, and other people on the roads. According to the most recent statistics by the National Commission Against Drunk Driving is that 17, 000 Americans die each year in alcohol-related traffic crashes and 600,000 Americans are injured. (National Commission Against Drunk Driving, 2003). That’s an average of one fatality every
Have you ever lost someone close to you because of a bad decision, or a bad decision someone else made? Drunk driving and driving under the influence of drugs is the leading cause of death in the United States. Everyday 28 people die in the U.S. because of a drunk or drug impaired driver. Everybody makes bad choices, even you and me, but there is a difference between a bad choice and a bad choice that can put others at risk of injury and death.