Don’t Let Drunk Driving Ruin Your Night of Fun

Alcoholic Drink, Attitude, Car accident, Dangerous Driving, Death, Drunk driving, Information, Life, Prevention Better than Cure, Reflection, Regrets, Saving Lives, Sharing, Social Message, Social Responsibility, Statistic

Don’t Let Drunk Driving Ruin Your Night of Fun

bk
November 12, 2009

drink drivingThe festive season is fast approaching and there will be numerous parties where you’ll be having a great deal of fun. When there are parties, there are always alcoholic drink and many reasons for one to drink more. Before you take another shot, think again, “Am I going to drive later?” If you are, most probably you want to be more discipline. If you are not, drink all you want and make sure you have someone to see you home safely.

During this time, you’ll see a lot of commercials, banners and posters to remind individual to drink responsibly. I believe that most people are responsible … at least all my friends drink responsibly. When they are drunk, they always make sure that someone else who is sober will be at the wheel. Probably next time, if you know that your friends are drunk or have been drinking a lot, you may also want to exercise a little social responsibility to stop him/her from driving.

Drunk driving is an offence in most countries around the world. Anyone who is convicted of injuring or killing someone while under the influence of alcohol can be heavily fined, in addition to being given a lengthy prison sentence. In Singapore, repeated offence of drunk driving can cause you to be fined up to $30,000 SGD and three years’ imprisonment. For an offender causing death or serious injuries can also be caned up to 6 strokes.

In a report from CNN, a man in LA was charged with three counts of murder when he ran a red light and struck a car, killing a Major League Baseball pitcher and two others while under the influence of alcohol. Just for that split seconds he had caused lost and miseries to three families.

death-finitionAccording to the Office for National Statistics of UK, “There were 8,724 alcohol-related deaths in 2007, lower than 2006, but more than double the 4,144 recorded in 1991. The alcohol-related death rate was 13.3 per 100,000 population in 2007, compared with 6.9 per 100,000 population in 1991.”

In the US, in 2006, an estimated 17,602 people died in alcohol-related traffic crashes—an average of one every 30 minutes. These deaths constitute 41 percent of the 42,642 total traffic fatalities (from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)

In Singapore, there was a significant rise in drink-driving arrests recording a 7% rise from 3,733 cases in 2006, to 4,009 cases in 2007. From a speech by Dr. Teo Ho Pin, dated 13 December 2006; he cited an accident which happened earlier in March that year. Two colleagues were on their way home together on a motorcycle and they crashed into the centre divider along Bukit Timah Expressway and their bodies were found lying along the road. It was found later that both men had a high concentration of alcohol in their blood. In that tragedy, two families lost not only their sole breadwinners but also their husbands and fathers. Indeed as what he mentioned, “The penalties of drink-driving are very high – with the ultimate penalty being death.”

Often time, you may think that you are still sober enough to drive after drinking but there are too many cases where drunk drivers caused death of their loved ones and innocent parties.

Prevention is always better than cure. If you are going out on a group, there can be a designated driver to send the rest home. And in the case when even the designated driver had a few drinks, there is always public transport or a cab instead. Never leave things to chance. Please do not ruin your night of fun and enjoyment and be sentenced to a lifetime of guilt and regret.

Photo by engindeniz

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26 thoughts on “Don’t Let Drunk Driving Ruin Your Night of Fun”

  1. Pam

    Thanks for sharing. One family at our church was recently involved in a horrible crash when a young man decided he wanted to drink and drive. They are in for a long recovery time.
    .-= Pam´s last blog ..Growing Up? =-.

    1. Symphony of Love Post author

      @ Pam, sorry to hear about that. I sincerely hope the family will recover fast. When I was rewriting this post, I Googled for information to add on and ended up in a forum thread discussing about this issue. The thread starter was caught drunk driving for the second time, driving without license, and some insurance matter. He said he was really distressed this time and ‘awakened.’ I was thinking, “Why second time? Haven’t you learnt from the first?” It is quite sad that he was not the first offender who was caught for the second time. There are so many repeat offenders who are doing it again and again until they did something terribe; killing someone.

      @ Anne, I have this same thought. Thus I am especially caution at time and look out for any possibility of such case.

      @ Christine, I salute you on your strict self discipline. If all can follow your principle, then I would not need to write this anymore.

  4. meleah rebeccah

    I find that a lot of alcohol distributors have made some GREAT ‘drink responsibly’ commercials and I am a FAN!

    I have always hated drunk drivers. My best friends father was killed by a drunk driver when she was just a little girl. And because of that? I always make sure I have a ride or I pay for a TAXI.

    Drinking and Driving is not worth taking someone’s life!
    .-= meleah rebeccah´s last blog ..Intermission =-.

    1. Symphony of Love Post author

      @ Meleah, it’s good to hear that they are taking step to advocate drinking responsibly. Sorry to hear about the father of your best friend. It is definitely not worth it. I think peers have an important part to play to ensure that their friends do not drive when they drink too.

  5. Leeuna

    This is a great post. The statistics on alcohol related deaths is scary. I wish more people would practice the don’t drink and drive rule. Our highways would be made much safer.

  7. Jude

    Good advice BK since it is the season for all those parties. I love the fact that they put up all of those check points and it seems to help at least in my area. You take care, have a nice weekend and be safe.
    .-= Jude´s last blog ..Computer Forensics =-.

  8. Symphony of Love Post author

    @ Jude, it is good to hear that they are putting check points in your area. We do have check points here too. And it will be great if individual plays his/her part in this. Have a nice weekend.

  11. Tina T

    I know people who now plan to take a taxi when they are going to the big, festive parties where they know it will be tempting to have enough drinks where it may not be safe to drive. I think that this is a great idea. We don’t think twice about spending the money for a new outfit for a party, yet many people to don’t ant to spend the money on a taxicab. It’s a shame, because these accidents can be so easily prevented.
    .-= Tina T´s last blog ..What is the Appeal of Metro Men? =-.

    1. Symphony of Love Post author

      @ Dhemz, it is important that drivers read this and most importantly not to drink and drive after that. 🙂

      @ Jannie, I totally agree with you that we still have to be careful on the road. We may be safe but we are not able to control how others are driving yet.

      @ Tina, I couldn’t agree with you more on that; it is a perfect idea to just take the taxi. This simple and yet considerate act can very well save one and others a lot of trouble. Indeed, some people sure have their priorities set ‘wrong.’ They spent so much to prepare themselves for the party and yet skimmed on getting themselves home safely after drinking. These acccidents can definitely be prevented easily if only all people practice a little thoughtfulness.

  12. The Fitness Diva

    Yes, drink responsibly, people! I live in New York, so we usually end up on the train or in a cab after a night of alcohol shennanigans. Lucky us.
    But in more suburban places, I guess ya gotta do the old designated driver thing.
    Hey…. have you hugged your designated driver today?? 😉
    .-= The Fitness Diva´s last blog ..Back to Being More Organized…. =-.

  14. Symphony of Love Post author

    @ The Fitness Diva, LOL! Nope, have not been drinking for a while. 🙂

    @ Ching Ya, you are right. It may not only cause suffer to other, but also to own family too. It is just not worth it.

  19. Symphony of Love Post author

    @ Jude, hope you have a great weekend too. 🙂

    @ Melissa, prevention is always better than cure. Hope they can be more aware of it. And talking about teens, peers play important roles too, to keep their friends from drunk driving.

  20. housewife9988

    There r even more people who will commit more than 2 times or no times being recorded..
    it is only time when one had not seen the coffin, then one wont realise life was such!

    Not funny with drunkards.. they will just continue on being drunks.. but the worst is if those who met them on the speeding tracks.. n being bumped.. real bad luck..!
    .-= housewife9988´s last blog ..What kind of boss you have? =-.

    1. Symphony of Love Post author

      @ Housewife9988, yes I agree with you that there are many who committed drunk driving more than twice. In fact, there was one which I read about in NY who committed drunk driving 7 times and the last time, he killed someone. Did he realise what he had done … I don’t know. We must really be careful when we are driving out there. We must not be reckless driver ourselves and at the same time we must also look out for other reckless drivers.