2,670 = Drunk Driving Deaths So Far In 2009

florida · Newbie

back from my evaluation - mind on alcohol

Sobrietyspell · MIP Old Timer

I don't hear any upset at the possible repurcussions of driving under the influence of alcohol only the inconvenience of not having your licence & having to pay money for the consequences. Nobody can tell you to go to AA or help you get sober without your own willingness. My sister drove after one drink with her 5yr old son in the car & nearly had an accident. The police pulled her & she passed the breathaliser but it could have been so much worse & avoidable. Someone could have died: driver, child, pedestrian. No one will save you from your bottom but yourself. I'm not here to judge you but I'm not prepared to kiss you better & tell you everything will be fine either. You either want to get sober or you don't. We'll leave a light on for you anyway, Barbara. Good luck, Danielle x

florida · Newbie

i had been out drinking with this guy who was pulled over - we switched seats and i was busted with his dui - so no im not afraid of drinking and driving - never have been drunk while driving

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

I'll bet that you wish that you had a "do over" on that one. Well guess what? Nothing happens by accident, especially around here

With that said, it's probably time for you to get sober. It's unfortunate what happened, but if you hadn't been drinking you either: wouldn't have been ridding in a car with a drunk driver, or switched seats with him. Drinking dulled your senses and allowed you to make a couple of poor decisions. Luckily it's just going to be a rather big inconvienence instead of something tragic.

jonijoni1 · MIP Old Timer

You will do whatever you will do, until consequences catch up with you, if you have a problem. I am glad you are sharing here. No sane person woudl switch seats with anyone to "take the rap" for THEIR drinking and driving. I don't know which is sicker, drinking and driving (which I have done MANY times, and been caught for), or enabling someone else to drink and drive again, getting off scot-free. Sounds like perfect alcoholic thinking, as I know that well, and by the grace of God don't have to make deicisions based upon any more.

One day you may look back at this and be grateful that you had a chance to get help, slow down (no wheels). Some people are not so lucky. Only an alcoholic would try to think of a way to "beat the system" by drinking before getting a random testing number. I know it all seems to make sense to you right now, but to those of us who have been where you're at, the signal is loud and clear. It might just be time to put the plug in the jug. I am glad you are considering it and wanting to get to AA.

I am glad you are here. We want to help you if you are ready for help. And we would not be saying thse things if we did not undertsand where you're at right now, and what can happen if you don't change your attitude. Sounds like you are giving yourself a chance to get sober.

With Tough Love,
Joni

turninggrey · MIP Old Timer

florida wrote:

i had been out drinking with this guy who was pulled over - we switched seats and i was busted with his dui - so no im not afraid of drinking and driving - never have been drunk while driving

Hey Fla,
I want to make sure I understand this. You were both drinking and the boyfriend was driving. When you got pulled over, you quickly swapped seats because somehow you both thought you were less drunk???
If that is the case, it was a bad decision that is for sure. I am sorry that we, as alcoholics, do this kind of stuff. Go do the program. You might "hit bottom" while you are there and get motivated to stop. That is some of the terminology you will learn in class.
This web site mirrors the 12 step program referring to AA.
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

#4 is to make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. You will find more compassion and help than you know on this website, but the bottom line is we take responsibility for our actions. #10 is to promptly admit when we are wrong. That is because it is easy to believe that you are always a victim. When you surround yourself with non reforming drunks, its a constant pity party. Step away from that life, at least admit you made a stupid drunken mistake, and now take the steps to conform to the law. Honestly, good luck. We hope to hear more from you.
Tom

Jerry F · MIP Old Timer

"Nothing ever happens by accident..." Been around a long time to know that is
especially true. I never got into AA by the front door either. I married a drunk to
teach her how to drink and wish as mightily as she could all she could ever do
was wish. Trying to keep up almost cost her life and then she got into AA and
her sponsor suggested I try the other door...the Al-Anon Family Groups.

I also enabled drunks and addicts from being the supplier of the chemical of
choice up to and including putting them to bed and cleaning the kitchen after
everyone else left. Enablers will switch seats to save an alcoholics butt and
then you did what I finally did...got my own assessment. I am now a dual
member and like yourself wanted to "find some stuff out" and "learn some new
ways for living that were missing...like my spirituality. Only spirits I got up until
the time I got in recovery came in multicolored bottles with all kinds of different
percentage numbers on the labels.

I was given the choice to try the program for 90 days and if I found that it
wasn't for me I could pick my miseries up at the door and try something else.
I liked the idea of not being forced either as I later found out that one piece of
my character defects was being oppositional and defiant.   LOL...I just related
to your post...and then were allowed to be in the meetings too!!   YAY!!

I only had my life to save...no one elses, just mine.   I stuck around for 90 days
and since and after that time had all kinds of opportunities to grow...hitch hike
to meetings, ask for rides to and back, walk to meetings and do whatever it
took to get there, sit down, shutup, listen, take suggestions, practice what
everyone else was doing that got them what it was I was looking for and then
keep coming back and doing the same regiment daily. I wasn't being forced
I was being healed.

Florida don't let anything stand in your way for the first 90 days. Everyone who
is up for supporting knows that you can blow them off anytime you want. We
have worn your shoes in more ways than you know. You will have lots of
opportunities to blow off the program and at the same time you will be having
the opportunity to regain what it is you know you are missing.   Use that
oppositional defiant streak to oppose any excuse you have to not get into
recovery. If you don't want to ask for a ride...start walking early. Most human
beings can walk at a 2 to 3 miles an hour clip. If the meeting is 3 miles away
start an hour and fifteen minutes early.   The extra fifteen minutes you have you
can use to get to meet members who have transportation and are willing to
share with someone who also wants to share program.

In Support.   (((((hugs))))) smile

kkotz401 · Senior Member

I know beauracracy can be frustrating at times, but I think you should give AA a chance. Try to look at the brightside of things, at least you didn't end up in jail. I have been following the 12 steps on my own and it has worked well for me. I think that getting in touch with other sober people can help you out. I also don't like things being mandated to me but at this point I think I would go it. Try and stay positive. I hope it all works out for you.

Doll · MIP Old Timer

2,670 = Drunk Driving Deaths So Far In 2009

Posted by admin in Featured Articles on 03 17th, 2009 | 42 responses

Disregard the number you just saw in the title of this post. The numbers have already changed. We are in the fifth month of 2009 and there has already been over 2,500 deaths caused by drunk driving. The numbers are overwhelming and even scarier is the fact that these numbers that you see below will keep increasing by the minute.

Drunk driving related deaths are so often that in US each day someone is killed by a drunk driver every 40 minutes. When you are playing a game of pool with your buddies at the bar and waiting for your next drink, there lies someone dead and the reason being alcohol. We are not against alcohol as you can tell. We run a site that talks about alcohol and we are all for it. But when cause of celebration becomes the reason for mourning over someones death its time to take control. We just wanted to do a short post and a video to talk about drunk driving today.

Here are a few quick facts related to drunk driving :

On average, someone is killed by a drunk driver every 40 minutes in US
Each day 36 people die and almost 700 more are injured in vehicle crashes that involve a drunk driver
The total cost of alcohol related crashes is roughly $51 billion
In 2006, out of 1,746 fatality that included children one out of six was killed by an alcohol impaired driver
Half of all teenage fatalities is due to drunk driving
About 30 % of Americans are involved in an alcohol related crash sometimes in their lifetime
In 2007 alcohol related fatalities were 15,387 which is 37% of all fatalities. Alcohol related fatalities are down by 27% as compared to 1982.
Top 5 states with highest number of alcohol related fatalities are Texas, California, Florida, Pennsylvania and Illinois.
About 81% of all drunk drivers are male drivers
As you read this article most probably the number of deaths caused by drunk driving has already changed

image

Deaths Caused By Alcohol (most of these are due to drunk driving)

source

As you can see from the data above, alcohol related fatalities are lower than what it has been in the past. In 2007, alcohol related fatalities were 15,387. Although the numbers might seems lower we need to keep in mind that these arent mere numbers, these numbers represent people. Drunk drivers continue to take their own lives and others as well. Here is what a drunk driver had to say in regards to drunk driving,

My friends and I were at a party. After having only 2 drinks each, we decided to go home. No one was designated to drive, and we got careless on the road. Alcohol debilitated my reaction time. I was driving. I hit another car coming directly at us after crossing over the center line. I killed two people that night - one of them a friend in my car it is something I will never forget and it will always haunt me.

We are not here to advice anyone or tell anyone what to do. We all make mistakes but some mistakes are too costly especially when you know the right answer from wrong.

Take a moment and scroll all the way to the top of this article and you might see the number of deaths related to drunk driving has changed. If it hasnt someone just made a wise decision and decided not to drive while impaired by alcohol and if the numbers have changed, another life has been lost to drunk driving.

If you are driving drunk you are not driving towards your destination. You are chasing death and it is right around the corner.

-- Edited by Doll on Saturday 30th of May 2009 11:01:25 AM

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

Something nobody has mentioned, but seems so obvious to me. You wouldn't have gotten the DUI if you didn't blow a level exceeding the legal limit. Whether you changed seats or not, you still must have been under the influence and that is on YOU and nobody else. My sobriety started with a car crash in which I could have killed myself and / or others. I'm not here to preach as I just admitted to doing the same thing myself that you evidently did. I did it many times in fact. I just thank god my thoughtless, selfish actions didn't take anyone else out and now I have this program so that I never have to do that again. I would take that DUI ticket as your salvation because you never have to get another one if you choose.