Please, Please, Please Don’t Drink and Drive

Each month I author a safety column in the Vancouver Family Magazine. Vancouver Family Magazine is a locally produced publication who’s mission is “to strengthen a sense of community by providing Clark County families with comprehensive and locally based resources and information regarding parenting, education, news, community events and personalities, recreation, and more.” A couple of weeks ago, I submitted my contribution to the October issue, entitled “One Drunk Driver“.

In the column I shared recent statistics about those killed as a result of drunk driving. I won’t reiterate those numbers here, (read the article in Vancouver Family Magazine if you’re interested) but will repeat only that in 2011, drunk drivers killed 1,612 friends and family members–passengers inside the drunk’s own car.

That was two weeks ago. This last weekend, there was a single car crash that seems directly related to drunk driving. Sunday evening, around 8:30 p.m., Kenneth Jones was driving east from Vancouver toward Camas when his “vehicle left the roadway about a mile west of the 164th Avenue exit…went down an embankment, hit several large rocks and overturned, landing on its top.” The passenger in his car, Daniel Alexander of Vancouver, was pronounced dead at the scene.

How tragic.

How unfortunate.

How senseless.

Having lost a loved one in a motor vehicle crash myself, the loss is agonizing and forever. I feel for Mr. Alexander’s family and understand the grief and pain they are surely trying to deal with right now.  Whatever struggles and demons Mr. Jones may have endured before Sunday night, he must now add the guilt associated with choosing to drive while intoxicated and thereby taking the life of his friend or family member. I do not have the imagination necessary to calculate the weight of that burden.

As I stated in an earlier post, these crashes are not accidents. They are the final and permanent result of an irrational choice to break rules designed to keep everybody safe.  Please, please, please don’t drink and drive.

Related articles

• $35 Million Verdict Obtained in Case Against Drunk Driver (floridajustice.wordpress.com)
• US man posts online video confession admitting he killed a man while driving drunk (globalnews.ca)
• 1 killed, 1 injured in crash down embankment in Vancouver (oregonlive.com)
• Every 3 Hours, A Drunk-Driving Crash Claims the Life of Someone Who Was Not Driving Drunk (ihidemychocolate.com)

Caden Wondered What Labor Day Was “All About”

Earlier this week, my eight year old son, Caden, asked what “Labor Day was all about”. Digging deep, from somewhere, I remembered it had, logically, something to do with workers, and probably had something to do with labor unions. Unsatisfied with my superficial answer, he pressed further. Ultimately, “I don’t know Caden” was my only response to several of his inquisitive questions. I resorted to Wikipedia.com for answers.

I wasn’t as uneducated as I suspected. I was right. Two points for “fake it ’till you make it” fathers everywhere. I learned Labor Day originally was a celebration of the “economic and social contributions of workers.” We as a nation have celebrated Labor Day since the end of the Pullman Strike in 1894 when President Grover Cleveland officially made it a federal law. The celebration was originally marked by a street parade to show “the strength and spirit de corps of the trade and labor organizations.”  After the parade, a festival was thrown for workers and their families. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the civil significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the Selector movement.

Despite it’s historic beginnings, the Labor Day of today is nothing compared to the Labor Day of our grandparents.  To most Americans, the Labor Day of today marks only the end of the summer season, the beginning of the football season, and a darn good day to shop for a good sale.  Like its annual cousin, Memorial Day, the occasion is most often celebrated in campgrounds, beaches, backyards or swimming pools.  With those festivities, many of us choose to consume alcoholic beverages, some of us in excess.  As mentioned in my pre-Memorial Day post, I don’t care if you drink, I don’t care if you drink until you pass out and pee your pants.  That’s your business.  But please, please do so responsibly and safely.  Nominate a designated driver.  Don’t drink and drive.  Don’t risk injury or death to you, or to your friends, or to innocent victims of your stupidity.  If you find yourself in an intoxicated state, with no safe way to get home, know that there are options.  Take a bus, call a friend or family member, or call a professional service.l Pubfly, a local designated driving company offers a safe, convenient, and responsible way to get you and your car home safely.  Check them out.  Call them at 360-313-7645.  Or, if you find yourself in another state (it must have been a good night) check out this national database of designated driving companies.

Be safe. Be responsible. Be alive.

Related articles

• Government offices closed on Labor Day (rapidcityjournal.com)
• Top 10 places to travel for Labor Day (boomersurvive-thriveguide.typepad.com)
• It’s Labor Day, not ‘Union Day’ (thehill.com)
• Labor Day: Honor history (mtstandard.com)