Two Guys Rally

A Witness Report: Drunk Driving
[ December 29th, 2008 ] By: Charles Smith Posted in » Ramblings

So the holidays bring out the best in people. Thanks and giving, peace and goodwill towards men, and of course drinking. Unfortunately there are plenty of people who choose to get behind the wheel after drinking.

I had the unfortunate experience of witnessing the effect of a drunk driver on a stop light post right by my home. At first I heard what reminded me of clanging I-beams, then I drove around the corner and saw an econoline style van in a ditch (with significant dent/hole in its front) with a stop light attached to the side of it. So I did what any good Samaritan would do: I stopped and got out to see if everyone was okay.

Everyone was a man who stumbled up the hill/ditch on the driver’s side of the van. He was an older male with a moustache, some balding and lots of slurring (and not of the head injury variety). He said he was okay and no one else was in the car. He also asked me for a ride home (which I refused, of course). Boy was he drunk, or at least seemed it, because he fell away from my car when i locked the doors and dialed 911. Apparently he though it was a good idea to run up the street away from the accident while I was on the phone with the cops. They caught him just up the street after I gave a description to them (by the way eye witness reports suck, I claimed he had a Tan Jacket, but it was blue, however his pants were tan/khaki so that must be where I got confused)

At first I felt bad for the dude on what a shitstorm he got himself into, but then I realized: his van travelled across the point where I yield for traffic on that road and I would have yielded to that very van because of the direction he was travelling (and he only got there a minute or so before me). That would have ruined my night and car (and possibly life), so I didn’t feel bad at all about IDing the guy after they arrested him.

One interesting tidbit I learned that night: cop cars have TERRIBLE traction in the rain. Terrible. When I was in the cop car to drive by to where they arrested him in order to ID him, the officer lost traction right away and slid a bit. But it wasn’t only that cop that lost traction, every single cop that went around that corner did. I could totally out accelerate the cop car in the rain in my stock WRX. NEAT! (Observation: the cops may just be doing that for fun, since I bet they get bored just driving around all night.)

Anyway, what this reminded me of was how stupid it is to get behind the wheel of a car drunk. You already are in the, statistically speaking, most dangerous common situation. Adding alcohol will only make it even more so. So be safe out there when driving, especially around last call.