It’s hard looking back on Aug. 3, 2014 and not hold any animosity toward you. It is hard not to question your character or your morals on why you would do such a horrendous thing. I wonder every day why you would choose that Sunday to drink and drive. Leaving me to question why you would pick such a beautiful Sunday afternoon to forever take my peace of mind away from me. I was 19 years old and you almost ended my life. You leave me with so many questions and no answers to complete my thoughts.
On Aug. 3, 2014, you chose to drive drunk on I-75. You were driving an estimated speed of around 120 miles per hour when you slammed into the rear end of my brand new Honda Civic. My civic was spun across two lanes of the highway. While spinning I saw my life flash before my eyes, oncoming cars swerving profusely trying to avoid my tiny civic. I thought I was dead. I saw the sunlight and remembered thinking about my parents and my boyfriend and how I would probably never see them again. My boyfriend had just told me he loved me, my parents had just watched me graduate high school, and I was just about to start college. I thought about all of these things within the few seconds that I thought I was going to die. Within a matter of seconds I slammed into a tree on the side of the road. I can still almost hear my blood-curling scream that I let out the entire fifteen-second crash. As soon as my car had made its final resting space, people frantically ran to my car because they thought for sure that I was dead. All of the people who stopped are angels that I will probably never see again or have the opportunity to thank.
To the trucker who stopped you from trying to walk away from the scene, I can never say thank you enough. He stopped you from potentially getting away without any repercussions. To the nurse who stayed and held my hand in the ambulance while I was afraid of having an IV put in, I will forever want to say how much your act of kindness meant to me. To the ER doctor from Middletown Atrium Hospital who stopped and examined me at the scene, thank you for urging me to go to the hospital. To the grown man who took the phone out of my hands to speak to my mother because all I could do was scream, I will forever be thankful for you stepping up to take that phone call.
My mother will never be able to answer phone calls from me the same. My father will forever tell me to be safe while driving. After the thousands of doctor’s appointments and therapist appointments, I will never be able to have my sanity again. You almost took my life away but I forgive you. I do not know if you were having a bad day or if this was normal for you. However, I pray that you never do it again.
According to Life Saver, this year alone 10,800 people will die in alcohol related traffic accidents. This is an average of one person every fifty minutes. According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, those 21 to 25 years of age commit the highest rate of drunk driving. Statistics from the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration say that every two minutes a person is injured in a drunk driving accident. Get involved. Make it known that you will not stand for drinking and driving.
Drunk driving has become the punch line to a joke, or something that people are proud of. Your friends may be laughing and high-fiving you now for drunkenly driving everyone home, but how many high-fives will you be getting when you make your friends just another statistic and you’re sitting in handcuffs?
