Drunk Driving and Its Harsh Realities
Just leaving a food stand to head back home, a married couple decided to make one more stop. They pulled to a four-way stop and noticed a truck about a mile away speeding towards the stop. Luckily, the couple reached the corner store before the truck was able to hit them.
“I was thinking I know this cant be an emergency because the blinkers aren't on so maybe this driver is just driving recklessly,” said Jewelle Cobb, who recalls the night as if it were yesterday. “We made it to the store and parked in an angle in the front of the store, I was sitting on the passenger side of the car and next thing you know, that truck came and rammed my side going about45 to 50 [miles per hour].”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. , one drunk-driving death happens every 51 minutes. Cobb was rammed by that drunk driver, but she was lucky enough to escape that accident with her life. The pain did not stop that evening though, as she still had lasting effects from that accident.
“I cried every night,” Cobb said. “I wouldn't sit in the car alone, or go anywhere at night.”
Cobb’s husband got out the car only a minute before the drunk driver hit a pole and then hit his wife. On a different note, the driver almost ran into the entire corner store before running into Cobb’s car first.
This family, like so many others, is constantly changing in America due to countless peoples’ negligence, according to MADD. Not only does drunk driving pose a threat to the ones operating the vehicles on the road, but it also impacts the families of those that are hurt.
Driving is a privilege than can be taken advantage of when people mix their motor skills with intoxication or drugs. Alcoholic beverages mixed with driving typically never yields good results. Those results, can result in much more than just a bad night.
Started over 35 years ago, MADD, or Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is an organization dedicated to those affected by drunk driving conditions. Their mission is “to end drunk driving, help fight drugged driving, support the victims of these violent crimes and
prevent underage drinking.” By this motto, not only does the organization make Mississippians and beyond more aware of their driving conditions, but it brings the stories closer to home.
Not only are these accidents impacting on an emotional level, but taxpayers are also paying $987 million in subsidies for the consequences of drunk driving fatalities.
According to MADD, Mississippi had 210 drunk driving related deaths in 2015, or 34.3 percent of all traffic deaths. Whether on a Friday night or a casual outing, Mississippi is costing taxpayers money frequently by drunk driving.
http://www.madd.org/drunk-driving/state-stats/Mississippi.html
"The biggest strain I see is the financial portion of it,” said attorney Daniel Waide who specializes in DUI cases. "Most people don’t seem to realize how serious it is and what it could have
Cobb’s husband came back to the drunk driver’s car on the scene.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from the years 2003-2012, 2,560 people were killed in drunk driving related crashes in Mississippi. In 2012 specifically, 9.8 percent of males and 2.7 percent of females were killed per 100,000 people in the state, respectively.
http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html
Drunk drivers sometimes do not learn from their first experience. According to dmv.org, on your first offense in Mississippi, a DUI offense results in an administrative license suspension of 90 days, up to two days of incarceration and fines that can range from $250 to $1100.
http://www.dmv.org/ms-mississippi/automotive-law/dui.php
For Cobb, that reality that drunk drivers can be let go easily became all too true.
“He ended up going to jail that night because that was like his fourth DUI so he didn't have [a] license and that wasn't his vehicle,” Cobb said. “It was his [mom’s] vehicle that she told him not to get in.”
Multiple offenses not only raise your fine threshold, but a criminal could face one to five years in jail, and a possible forfeiture of a vehicle. But, is this enough to keep criminals off of the booze while on the road?
According to drunkdrivingstats.org, 12 states supplied data that discovered that “nearly onethird of all DUI arrests and DUI convictions involved repeat drunk driving offenders.” http://www.drunkdrivingstats.org/repeatdrunkdrivingoffenders.html
“Very rarely is there any true remorse that somebody got the DUI,” Waide said. “Usually they’re just upset because they had to pay money because of it.”
With a DUI on the record, drivers are still allowed to be on the road without serving the time necessary to leave a mark on their minds. For the victims, the accidents certainly do stay on the minds of those affected.
“After the accident, I learned to be more aware of my surroundings, I guess situational awareness,” Cobb said. “I probably cried every day because I could have lost my life that night because someone decided to make a poor decision.”
One story on the MADD website tells of an engaged women receiving multiple non-displaced fractures the day before Valentine’s Day. On a renaissance meeting with his fiancé, a sailor was killed on the way to a Wal-Mart to pick up a movie by a driver who was 3.5 times over the legal limit. Another story tells of a boy who had just turned 15 three days prior to being killed by a drunk driver while riding his bike.
These stories and many more scatter the MADD website, filling in the blanks of the families that have lost the ones that are dearest to them.
Drunk driving is a serious issue in America. It not only takes drivers off the road in a horrific way, it splits families apart financially, physically and emotionally. Americans will have to face the harsh reality that drunk drivers will stay on the road. But, there will be efforts made by those affected to ease the pain of the hurt.
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