Don’t drink and drive folks!

On the highway alongside the house last night around midnight.  Apparently out on the river all day, unable to tell the deputy how long she'd been drinking or how much.

Into ditch after turn, then culvert and steel state highway signpost, across driveway, then back down to ditch and culvert on the other side. All the air bags.  Missed neighbor's mailbox though. 
 

Refused breathalyzer at the scene. Blood will likely be drawn at the hospital, which was where she was headed next. 
 

Long wait for rural EMS, as the available team was on the other side of a bridge closed for construction. 
 

My wife depleted our household supply of gauze and we've got a blanket we probably aren't getting (or wanting) back.  
 

Ugh, so scary and un-necessary.

I'm not entirely sure, but around here driving that little Buick may be almost as much of a sign of bad life choices as a Nissan Altima.

She probably doesn't see it that way today, but she was very lucky.

In reply to Karacticus :

Thanks for helping keep a bad situation from getting any worse regardless of the cause.  But yeah... 

There was a news report here a couple days ago about someone who was stopped for erratic driving, and they blew a .451 on the Breathalyzer.  It's hard to imagine how they were still conscious, let alone able to drive.

Trying to turn laps in the simulator after a few drinks shows just how much it degrades your ability to drive, I can barely make it a couple corners, much less a fast lap

Happy she survived. Super happy she didn't involve anyone else in her disaster. 

Hope the lesson was painful enough to be remembered the next time she's on the river. 

Lost a former employee recently because she was driving drunk.  23, 2 kids.  Terrible waste.  

Also a good reminder that it doesn't hurt to have a good first aid kit in your vehicles.  Compression bandages and tourniquets aren't that expensive.  

A few weeks ago a drunk hit my moms all concrete mailbox. That thing was huge and HEAVY. Luckily it didn't go through the windshield, but it did try. 
After being 30 yards behind a triple-fatality accident (poor kid in the back seat was decapitated) I will never drive with even a drink in me, and I have no sympathy for those that do. 

My Uncle, Aunt, and Cousin were burned alive after a drunk driver hit them and they were trapped in their truck.  Two cousins survived and were left orphaned, one with a broken neck and both with PTSD life sentences.  I don't have any sympathy for drunks.  Call me heartless if you want, but hopefully people like this kill themselves before they destroy a family.

Back when I lived in Colorado I had a drunk driver run his Mustang through my backyard. He hit a storage shed, then bailed and ran, leaving it there.

Yeah. It had to be a Mustang.

In 1988 I was hit by a drunk driver. I haven't had a pain-free day since. To be clear, I'm mostly fine and got far luckier than so many others. Still, add me to the zero tolerance dogpile. 

I was in my stepfather's brand new pickup. He hadn't even made the first payment yet. The woman who hit us backed up and fled the scene. Fortunately, a witness followed her and actually boxed her in on a dead end street. She had zero money or assets and essentially walked away with no accountability. She did drink herself six feet under a few years later. 

My passengers (one in the passenger seat and one in the bed) thankfully had only minor injuries. 

In reply to Motojunky :

I can empathize about the physical pain.  Here's my MG Midget after a drunk in a Subaru Justy hit me at 35 mph.  I got whiplash, a broken sternum, facial scars, and 30 years of neck pain out of it.  Last year my neck finally broke due to the compromised discs and my dominant arm was partially paralyzed.  I'd fully endorse a law where a victim of a drunk driver could reciprocate the attempted murder.  I'd give the guy a chance and let him run 40 or 50 yards, but in return, I'd want a full magazine and no charges regardless of the results.

Lost my dad to DD when I was...11. He was drinking, under the effects of opiates (we didn't have oxy at the time so it was perco...dan? I don't know if sets were on scene in 1991) and dealing with some unresolved trauma dating back to my mothers death (also heavily debated to be under the influence of either alcohol or narcotics...we like to have fun) and an accident he'd witnessed days before. He had a habit of not wearing a helmet, and hit a car on his motorcycle. We're not sure if wearing a helmet would have saved him or actually made it worse, as he likely would have ended up a full quad if he'd survived, even with a lid. 

So.....yeah. Don't do it kids. You could turn out like me, and no one wants that. Have you met me? 

The results of the first drunk that hit me head-on back in 2006:



The results of the SECOND drunk that hit me head-on in 2018:

FloridaMan had his sport bike throttle pegged, head tucked, and just....didn't make the turn. It was the last mistake he ever made (besides drinking his lunch). He was 3x legal limit and technically blackout drunk. I know because I read the autopsy report. I didn't kill him, he killed himself using my car. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.


What a sport bike looks like after exploding and sending the pilot into orbit over my car. Dude did two complete ragdolls before hitting the ground face down beside my car. His helmet flew off and is probably somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico still. Not like it would have helped anyway. All the damage from the headlights up on my car...was done by his body.


At least I walked away from the second one with just PTSD, the first one I spent a year learning to walk again.

Zero tolerance, berkeley drunk drivers with a cactus...sideways. There are no excuses anymore with all the available ride share services.

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

Back when I lived in Colorado I had a drunk driver run his Mustang through my backyard. He hit a storage shed, then bailed and ran, leaving it there.

Yeah. It had to be a Mustang.

Yo, free car!  Cool!

stroker said:

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

Back when I lived in Colorado I had a drunk driver run his Mustang through my backyard. He hit a storage shed, then bailed and ran, leaving it there.

Yeah. It had to be a Mustang.

Yo, free car!  Cool!

I dunno officers, the engine, trans and rear axle all must have been thrown clear in the wreck. No idea where they went....