On Oct. 13, 2015, CNN posted an article about a woman from Florida who drove home while under the influence. She live-streamed herself while driving intoxicated. Thankfully, viewers who watched the video called the police immediately. She was arrested and faces charges of driving under the influence. Luckily, no one was hurt.
This is an epidemic that needs to stop. Drinking and driving is never okay. The minute you decide to get in the car after you have been drinking is the minute you are putting every single person on the road at risk.
Drinking and driving is a topic that I am very passionate about. When my mother was 16, she lost her boyfriend because some idiot decided to drive home drunk. He died that night. Anytime she tells the story about him, it brings tears to her eyes, even 20 years later. It all happened because some person decided to drive home under the influence. Could he have been stopped? Did someone try to take away his keys? Maybe he was alone. No matter what happened, a decision was made where he drove somewhere drunk, and killed another human being. Not only did he kill another person, he broke the hearts of the loved ones of the poor, innocent victim.
If your loved one got into a car crash because of a drunk driver, your life would never be the same. Just imagine this. You thought everything was fine until your life changed instantly because of one poor choice. What would you do? How would you feel?
Drinking and driving is not a joke. It is a serious matter.
Every two minutes, someone is injured from a drunk driver. (This would be 30 injuries in the timespan of an "Orange is the New Black" episode.)
Every 15 minutes someone dies from a drinking and driving incident. (This would be four deaths in the timespan of an "OITNB"episode.)
On average, a drunk driver will drive 80 times under the influence before their first arrest.
50-75% of people who have had their license suspended from a drunk driving incident, still drive with the suspended license.
In 2012, 29.1 million people admitted to driving under the influence. (Peru's population is around 30 million people.)
Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, and 1/4 of these crashes are from drinking and driving.
Every day, over 300,000 people drive drunk.
Don't be a statistic. Think before you drive. Check up on your friends when you go out. Call Uber, spend the night, get a cab. Never let a friend drive home drunk. Take their keys, do whatever you can to make sure they do not endanger their life or anyone else's. At the end of the day, everyone wants to get home safely. Don't be the person to change that for someone because of a stupid decision.
Statistics provided by Mothers Against Drinking and Driving (MADD). For more information, please contact 877-MADD-HELP for the 24- hour victim hotline.