Drunk Driving - Time for a Radical Solution

Drunk driving is stupid. We can all agree on that. So why does it still happen, and how can we stop it? Apart from the obvious answer...

Drunk Driving - Time For a Radical Solution

WB

Fish on a Bicycle...Completely Normal!

How many of us went down the drinking path, because it was 'normal'

Fish on a Bicycle..Completely Normal

WB xx

Media and Mummy Juice!

Happy (Sober) St Patrick's Day

Media and Mummy Juice

WB xx

10 Things I Can Do Sober, That I Couldn't Do While I was Drinking....

Life has most definitely improved, these are my Top Ten Highlights..

10 Things I Can Do Sober That I Couldn't Do While Drinking..

And there but for the Grace of God......

It's 30 years since Back to the Future was made. Or, today is the date that they went to in the Future. Or something like that. Anyway, I remember the movie, and I am horrified if it was 30 years ago that it came out, because that makes me.....as old as dirt.

It's been a ten days since I blogged, and it's been a strange time. Firstly, like many of us, Sober Mummy preoccupies a lot of my thoughts....and positive vibes being sent over constantly, SM.

It's also been a busy time in the news, Canada has just got a brand new Prime Minister, and (I know this sounds shallow) but he is at least easy on the eyes, so when he does start spouting crap (as they all inevitably do) I can at least tune it out, and focus on his boyish good looks.

I didn't vote. Don't howl and shriek at me....I can't. I am an illegal alien. Well, not exactly, I'm a Permanent Resident, not a citizen, so I get to pay whatever taxes are imposed on us all, but I don't get a say in whether they are used to bolster rich people's pensions, save the environment, or do endless research on whether literacy improves your chances for employment ( I shit you not, that's an actual piece of research).

In among all the polls and fake sincerity, a news story caught my attention from Washington State I believe.

A young lady (too young to remember Back to the Future), had been drinking heavily in a bar, and then announced that she was going to drive home drunk!
A lamentable situation, sadly not unique.....except that she announced it to the Whole World - or at least 57 other people, via live online streaming from her smarty pants phone.( "Periscope" is the latest and greatest app, that allows us, not just to photograph what we are eating for lunch, we can actually invite people to watch us eat it.....LIVE)

Unfortunately for this lady (or fortunately, if you happened to be driving near her in Washington State), her announcement caught the attention of a police officer, who immediately dropped his donut, tracked her down and arrested her.

She had continued her live streaming, obviously completely blitzed, as she drove away from the bar. 

"Oh my goodness" said the News Anchor "Just one bad decision after another and another", as she pursed her lips and shook her head disapprovingly (Fox News, clearly).

And what was my first thought?

Thank God I had no idea about Periscope when I was drinking.

Of course I'm not condoning drunk driving. Did I drive drunk? Not as blitzed as this young lady, but definitely there were times when I must have been over the limit.

Did I say or do other stupid things? Hell yes. The type of things that I wake up in the middle of the night, and have to repeat to myself 'just think happy thoughts" to stop me reliving each cringe worthy, sweat inducing, nightmarish event.

But I toss and turn in my own misery.........the only tortuous replay button is in my own mind.

Not like this lady........

If I hadn't have got sober already, this story may have prompted me. I hope it made her think too. Not because I am as sanctimonious as the news people - but just because I know that it's not going to get any better........


If only life was exactly how Michael J Fox and Doc Brown discovered.

I still would have got sober....to make sure I could balance on the hoverboard !!

WB xx

DUI

I read an article yesterday about drunk drivers in the US. One State, instead of removing the driving licence, was enforcing mandatory sobriety, by making offenders take a breathalyzer test twice a day. Should the offender fail the test - off to jail they go and/or lose their Driving Licence (and I should have saved the link, sorry)

Of course this raises all sort of arguments about civil liberties, but the article went on to say that a over 25% of the offenders, once the 'sentence" was completed, chose to live a sober life (at least for some time).

When I moved to Canada, about twelve years ago, I was shocked that most people seemed to disregard the Drunk Driving laws. I moved to a small mill town in the middle of Vancouver Island ( guess away) and Drunk Driving was practically a sport.

There were a few road blocks around Christmas time and  statutory holidays, but in the main, people would take 'a chance" and get behind the wheel after they had a few.

As my drinking increased, I got very organized (I think one of you lovely people referred to it as Wine Management 101). I always made sure that I had plenty of wine, so I would never be tempted to drive, even as all reason and common sense left me.

Well that was the theory.

I have never been caught driving over the limit, and I have never had an accident.

Only by the best luck ever.

I have definitely driven while under the influence of alcohol, I am very ashamed to admit.

I wondered what would have happened if I had been caught and sentenced to mandatory sobriety.

I hope that I would have been so ashamed of myself that I never touched another drop. I hope that I would be thankful for a second chance. I hope that I would have eventually embraced the sober life, even after the "sentence" was lifted.

I hope this experiment is successful.