My dad witnessed a car accident late on Saturday night that almost hit him, the cause doesn’t shock me but scares me; the man involved had been drinking and had lost control of his car. Why did this driver see fit to do something so reckless and stupid?
Driving down a dark country road my dad saw a speeding car heading his way on his side of the road. The car took a sudden sharp right and my dad realized that there wasn’t a right turn there; and so pulling over, he found the car sideways in a hedge. He had to smash the window open as he found no response from the driver but once this was done it was obvious he was fine but intoxicated.
Now I have never been a heavy drinker; i’m happy at one or two and I only drink liquor rather than beer. But I don’t understand how this man was stupid enough to get into a car and drive so fast he lost control, and be as drunk as he was.
My mum made an excellent point when we discussed it; that when she was younger, only 19 years ago, adverts and advice on drinking and driving was everywhere. They all knew that it just wasn’t to be done and no one ever really attempted it due to the active police presence upon the subject. There were 5620 accidents in 2014 cause by dangerous driving through drink but its never actively addressed because its assumed that people know they shouldn’t do this, but the figures are simply too high; 260 people died in 2014. I personally know people who do it on regular occasions; some even with kids in the car.
This post is really just a plea; to make people understand that if my dad was 200 ft further ahead on that road this man would have hit him. He could have seriously hurt my dad, who was stone cold sober; and against the car would have had no chance. The driver was driving home from work over the legal limit and clearly not fit to drive. There are so many taxi companies and they really aren’t expensive; especially when the cost of drink driving could be someones life.
Please don’t drink and drive, what reason do you have to do it?
abigailgrows 