Don't drink and drive

Remember when you could drink and drive, you just couldn’t drive drunk? So, what is it going to take to get some people to quit drinking and driving over the limit? Is death going to be the answer? Your number will eventually come up in some form. Take a minor accident or DUI as a sign, maybe even a blessing.

How many of your rights would you give up to keep a loved one alive? Should people have to pass a certain BAC to be able to drive away from a bar, or over a certain speed limit or distance, or out of city limits or at a higher speed? Maybe someone could invent a vehicle that turns a different color, or has blinking lights, or just doesn’t start when the smell of alcohol is detected on the driver. Sounds crazy, I suppose, but not as crazy as reading an article on a person who could not be stopped and needlessly died, or worse, knowing that person.

Alcoholism is a daily fight for those who used to drink and those who still do, but also for many who never have. We have all been affected by alcoholism, but we have also been infected. I believe most of us have a tough time crossing over the line from enabling to a place of tough love. That is a hard one I have fought many times, and still do. I’m coming up with a few answers, so try not to call me a hypocrite, and I’ll try not to be one.

I don’t have all the answers, but I have a few. Take  your friend’s keys, even if you have to wrestle them to the ground or “risk your friendship.” Don’t blame your friend or bartender—thank them. Let your loved one sleep on the floor, hopefully not enabling this behavior, but saving their life on one or two occasions. Someone somewhere has some kind of phone—use it. Be smart and admit you can’t drive. Maybe we could all look at those annoying phone calls or nagging spouses in a different way and thank them. All of us have solutions—use them. We know regretting it later is worse.

Do we now need a sober ride home program? Is that enabling, or could it become as important as our law officers and ambulance and fire crews, who by the way would have a lot fewer tragedies to respond to if a program like this existed?

I don’t want to count the people I know who have died from drinking, much less drinking and driving, not in this last year, not in the last 10 years that I have lived here. What can you do to help? Have a plan when you start drinking. Realize that the start of drinking is the end to thinking. If you can’t drive, call someone, or call for someone. Be the sober driver once a week. It won’t kill you—it will keep you alive.