Dear Driver,
It's 11 p.m. and you're leaving a pre-game headed to the bar. You've got all your favorite people packed into the car and you're anxious but excited for the night to begin. Bicardi pumps through your system justifying every action you take tonight.
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It's 11:02 p.m. and my brother is headed to watch a movie at his friend's house and my mom is on her way home from her second job. He is excited and she is exhausted.
It's 11:09 p.m. and my dad is coming home from a late night chemotherapy session. He is uneasy.
You've told yourself that you're not too drunk to drive, you've done this a million times.
No big deal.
Next thing you know, you're crossing the intersection a little too fast, with a little too much liquid confidence to beat that red light.
Before you could even think twice, your car plows through the other car crossing the intersection. It is obliterated.
For a moment, things go silent. The world is completely quiet and white and still.
Flash back to the phone call you had with your mother before you got into the car. She told you she loved you and to text her when you arrived.
Lives colliding and instantly changing.
But how should this apply to you? You're the best drunk driver you know.
It applies because your family, my family and our family are out on the roads. They are going to friends' houses, coming home from work, getting a late night McDonald's McFlurry. Your sobriety behind the wheel depends on their safety.
In 2014 there were 9,967 people killed in a drunk driving accident and 290,000 were injured. Don't seduce chance into making that you or someone you love.
The number of people who die unnecessarily is quite unfortunate. That means there were 9,967 people with unfinished wishes, conversations and unfinished kindness. People who would have not died at the mercy of alcohol otherwise.
If you drink and drive, if you even drink a little bit, you put every single person out on the road at a huge risk. Every mother, son, brother, wife, cousin, best friend, dad, mom, grandma, teacher, everyone at risk for your selfish decision.
Friends, I do not write this to bestow blame upon anybody, because everybody makes mistakes. However, don't let this be your mistake: drinking and driving is deadly. The average distance from a pre-game to a club is about two to four miles in Tallahassee, which will cost anywhere from $6-8 in an Uber. This is possibly $6-8 to save a life.
You are a good person, with good intentions. For the sake of our loved ones out there on the roads, please don't drink and drive.
It's just not worth it.
Sincerely,
The Other Person Crossing the Intersection
