Change

When I was a kid my step dad and his friends would drink and had no qualms about driving. The same thing was true at my dad’s house. After a ride with one of them drunker then heck, I thought to myself that I was never ever going to do that. And after a few years watching them drink themselves to death, I decided that I wasn’t going to drink at all. that was the cultrue that we grew up in and thats how we live today. but all that needs to change we cannot let our past dictate our future, we must change. If we do nothing then we will repeat the same mistakes that those before us commited, and no matter what anyone says those mistake were costly just ask anyone that has suffered through the loss of a loved one to a drunk driver.  

In 2006, I became the victim of a drunk driver. In that crash I lost my son Matthew and my neighbors son Ricky. I was affected by a world that I chose not to be a part of and it totally changed my life. I learned that no matter who or what you are not exempt from the ills of this world and the only way to change things is that you stand up and speak out about it. Take for example the Susan G Kolman foundation Started with a promise to a sister to bring an end to breast cancer, she didn’t just sit back and mourn the loss of her sister, she stood up and spoke out and moved forward. Now the movement that started with a promise is worldwide and growing and everyone wears pink because of it. This is the same effort that we need in order to bring drunk driving to its end. We must stand up, we must speak out. it’s not going to stop all by its self we must push it to the edge of extinction and over. The night of our crash I could do nothing to save my son and Ricky but there is something I can do now and that is to stand up and speak out. We all need to stand up and speak out even if you have never been affected by a drunk driver. We need to work to keep it from happening; we will honor the loved one that we lost to this crime by bringing it to its end. The hour is late the time to act is Now.

Edward

No more wiggle room

Reading the story about Mr. Barton, who killed a mother and her teenage daughter, brought back memories of the night my son was killed by a drunk driver. As I sat there reliving that tragic night my thoughts turned to all the times I had seen news story that talked about how someone was killed by a drunk driver. Or how a drunk driver killed themselves and how sickening it was to hear of such preventable tragedies. Never In my life did I think that I would be one of those news stories. But I was and I want to stop it from happening to someone else. So By now we all know that drunk driving is wrong and that it is against
the law. Knowing that, don’t you think that everyone who gets caught driving drunk intentionally decided to do so. There should be no excuse for driving
drunk. If you plan to have a drink then you should plan for another way to get home other than driving. We often hear someone say “I drove because I didn’t
want to leave my car there” that’s not an excuse for killing someone. Or those that say I’m ok and then cause the same type of tragedy the Mr. Barton did or wind up killing themselves.

"Driving drunk is an intensely selfish act; a driver endangers others because alternatives are less convenient." Kansas city star.com

 There are no DWI accidents they are all crashes that

could have been prevented. When you drink then drive you do so knowingly putting yourself and others in danger. The problem is that were given permission to
drink and drive as long were not over the limit of BAC .08. Then it is left to us to decide if we are ok to drive. The issue with that is that we tend to give
ourselves too much credit because we don’t want to see ourselves as criminals. If anything should be done is that those that drink should not drive no matter how
much they had. That way, there is no chance that someone may be driving impaired. The alcohol industry my say that are prohibitionist but that is not
true all we are asking is that anyone that drinks should not be driving. The wiggle room of being .02 through .08 should just be removed. And those that say we are affecting the economics of the alcohol industry are placing their bottom-line a head of the lives of the citizens of this state. If you think about it, a person that knows they will be driven home is more likely to enjoy
themselves more and spend more money doing so then one who has to contemplate when to stop. The transportation industry will benefit, they will have more
riders. They can work out a deal with the bars and restaurants to attract customers, then to get them home safely. It also will cut back on the time an officer
spends filling out a DWI report which is an outrageously long process. I think we should explore this further with our lawmakers and see what happens.  What do you think?      

 

       

Its just the way things are.

I posted part of this story on FB as a note but there was more that I wanted to share about this incident the other day so I am going to start blogging and share with you a bit more with a little more personal insight, as I was readying my post for the day I kept coming across the same story from over ten different site and it got me thinking, and here is what I came up with:  Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon, who leads the nation in receiving yardage, was arrested for DWI after the Monday nights football game in Dallas. He has received so much media coverage that it seems as though no other star athlete has ever committed this crime before and that the press is in shock that it happened. Mr. Blackmon, as he stated, did make a mistake. Luckily he was caught before it became a deadly one. But, he was not the only one of 91,375 people in attendance that night that made the choice to drive after he had been drinking and was most likely not the only underage drinker there. The problem is that this happens all the time and there is no great effort to stop it from happening by those that put on events like this. It seems as though it’s accepted as just what happens at events like this, really? Just what happens is that people die! Just what happens is that families are devastated! Just what happens is that lives are forever ruined and dreams are destroyed! This is the reality that we live in and those that chose to ignore it need to wake up and see that we are in the middle of a dangerous epidemic and things need to change. The guy at the game that was sitting two rows in front of you was entertainingly intoxicated and continued to drink as you watched both him and the game. Now he’s on the road right behind you and it’s no longer funny it’s downright dangerous. How can we keep this from happening? That’s the million dollar question; a reported once asked me if what I was advocating for was more personal responsibility, I said of course I am but it’s not just that, we must attack this problem from every side. Let’s get the public to see drunk driving for what it is, it’s a crime. This must be done on a one to one basis. where we speak out to our friends and family. And it must be done in the public realm where we demand change from those that sell and provide alcohol and from law enforcement sending out constant reminders of it penalty’s. Then we must address it at the legislative level, where we work to provide the laws needed to bring it to its end. All these are easier said than done but what do we do give up because it hard, or do we stand up and push forward because we know that it’s the right thing to do and because lives are on the line. I say press forward for my sons’ life and all those that lost their lives to a drunk driving crash, because their lives did matter and they did mean something to us and they will not be forgotten.  

Well this is it for my first blog; I look forward to sharing more with you later till then

Stay safe

Edward