This week’s editorial is a very simple request to our readers, “Be careful during the upcoming three-day July 4th weekend.”
Let’s face it, for many people, holidays such as Labor Day, Memorial Day and Independence Day are synonymous with drinking.
There’s nothing wrong with sitting around your house, pool, friend’s house, on a boat, at a campground, or at a party with a few beers, gin and tonics or Margaritas – hopefully consumed in moderation, but in reality, excess will be the mode for many drinkers.
The problem comes when you need more ice, want to cruise to another party or when it’s simply time to go home. It’s when you choose to hit the road after that six-pack that you become public enemy number one. Even in the year that 9/11 took place our neighbors with 12-packs killed more Americans than terrorists with bombs.
Those drinks you chugged are a serious liability for yourself, other passengers and anyone else on the road if you drink and drive.
Just ask Georgia Inmate #1083688 Chris Sandy who spoke to Pickens High School students earlier this year, “I killed two innocent people, and I won’t have my complete freedom until I am 53 years old. I don’t have a life anymore. I meet people in prison all of the time with similar experiences.”
While teenagers are often blamed for most everything, road blocks in Pickens County rarely put the cuffs on underage drinkers. Driving drunk is mostly an adult problem and not limited to scruffy guys you avoid making eye contact with.
This crime cuts across all lines. The inmate who gave the pre-prom address highlighted a successful young mother sentenced to 10 years for a DUI and vehicular homicide. “She had a six-month old, but she is in prison right now for [for drunk driving].”
Just because you have good kids and a nice house doesn’t give you special protection from causing wrecks or getting stopped for weaving across lanes while trying to finish your glass of wine.
The sheriff’s office recently noted that they are seeing a dramatic increase in DUI arrests. With all the July 4th BBQs, parties and outings, the chances are those numbers will rise again this weekend.
Statistics showed that 55 percent of the 514 traffic fatalities across the country on and around the Fourth of July in 2003 were alcohol-related, according to National Highway Safety Board.
In Georgia impaired drivers cause one-out-of-three fatality crashes each year.
While it may be humorous to kid a co-worker about a party indiscretion committed with several drinks involved, there’s nothing funny about getting behind the wheel after one too many.
Especially not if you see blue lights.
This year, just in time for the holiday, the state has beefed up some already tough DUI laws, requiring tougher sentences, more expensive fines, felony convictions and longer community service.
If you get caught in a holiday roadblocks, the guys with the badges won’t find your patriotism any reason to overlook that half-empty cooler.
This weekend, take a designated driver, lay off or stay home. |
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