The thing is, I think that we are much too weak on drivers. Remember a while back when I'd posted about the young man that was killed behind my house in a horrific accident. I wasn't sure whether the driver had been texting when I first wrote that post, but it was later found not to be true according to her cell phone records. I wonder what it was that she was so distracted by though. There were NO brake marks. The truck, with a big arrow on top of it warning drivers to change lanes, surrounded by pylons that the poor kid was picking up -- and there was no evidence that the driver attempted to stop. How sad is that?
Wait, it gets worse -- she was sentenced a few months ago. Wanna know the horrible penalty that she received? A $2,000 fine and a 3 month driving suspension. She killed a person because she was too distracted and that's her penalty?
It just bothers me so much that things like this are seen as accidents. That's horrible. To me, and accident implies something that was destined...fate. This, in my opinion, is not that type of situation. Khabibulin, Paris Hilton, Mel Gibson, Lindsay Lohan -- these and many more famous people go around portraying this dangerous behaviour as something that's acceptable -- which it shouldn't be. They all made a choice -- as much as that woman who hit that poor kid -- they made a choice to get into their cars rather than call for a cab, or, in the case of the "distracted" driver, pay attention. You are driving a 3000 pound machine - YOU CAN KILL PEOPLE.
When will the rest of the world pay attention? I can't be the only one who sees this!
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9 comments:
I agree 100%!!!! I was mortified the other day when I turned on the 6:00 Global news(which I have ALWAYS enjoyed watching) to catch the updates on the Allyson McConnell case (Millet mom accused of drowning her two sons) and the Lyle & Marie McCann case (earlier that day the RCMP named Travis Vader a suspect in the case, not just a person of interest.) I had to wait for 10 minutes because apparently Nikolai Khabibulin being a complete idiot/moron/f**knut is a "TOP STORY"! When discussing this with my friend who is a CFRN news watcher, she informed me that my TWO stories were the TOP STORIES on CFRN and she didn't hear anything about the Oilers precious goalie until the sports segment HALFWAY through the news!
Of course celebrities are getting away with it, so many media outlets are giving them so much attention for bad behavior that they all think that is the thing to do! Granted, there are some celebrities who do learn from their mistakes...Nicole Richie has turned her life around. She now lives for her children and for her family. Paris Hilton could learn a lesson from her, Miss "Cocaine?? I thought that was gum in my purse?" I've never touched drugs but I find this comical because since when does coke look like gum?
I personally don't even like driving with the kids at times because they are such a distraction, I CAN NOT imagine having drugs or alcohol in my system and trying to operate a vehicle!! I agree with you Heather! It is time for those people to WAKE UP and realize that they aren't just affecting their own lives, they are affecting groups of people, and tearing families apart!
It's not just celebraties that are getting away with it. Far too many drunk drivers in our city fight their case and get off. EVERYDAY!
I'm a firm believer in you drive drunk you lose the right to drive, ever. I think that as a society we have to hold eachother to a higher standard. I'm not sure how many times, I've had the conversation, with grown, otherwise law abiding adults that they were to drunk to drive. The "no, I'm fine, really, I can drive you home" when followed up with, "why don't you call my mom then. Ask her what she thinks and if tonights the night she wants to take the chance of burying her daughter, then I'll take your ride" gets the point across surprizingly well.
The part that really pisses me off is the not manning up part. Easy peasy, do the crime, do the time. Jack asses.
The sad thing is...they usually walk away and leave some other family/families destroyed! Then they have the nerve to sit in court crying how sorry they are trying to appeal the judges ruling. My friend and I just had a very close encounter with a drunk driver last week, it was one of the SCARIEST moments in my life because of another persons poor choices!
This is the reason why, when my oldest son became old enough he was going out and he and his mates were occasionally drinking, we told him:
If you are out and the person driving has been drinking, you can call us to come pick you up. Doesn't matter what time it is, or where it is. We will come get you. You will not be in any trouble.
He also knew that it was okay to use us as the "bad guys" when it came to drinking or using drugs or any other stupid stunt that teens get up to, if peers tried to pressure him too much:
Nah man, my mum would know and she'd kill me.
(I think the phrase I used was "knock 7 shades of sh*t out of you")
When my siblings and I started were old enough to get our license we all had to go through AMA driving school and we all had to sign a SADD-Contract for Life with my parents, a contract that we all hold my Mom to, even now! (LOL) My parents understood that us and our friends were going to drink at parties so a lot of the times we would end up staying at their farm, starting a fire in the fire pit and partying there. The MAIN rule was, everybody on the property had to make there way into the house and drop off their keys and say who the designated driver was. Everybody knew that they were allowed to stay over and that my parents would contact other parents.
When it comes to my children getting there license, I do plan on getting my children to take a driving course and sign this contract. I will show them every scary thing out there if it means scaring them senseless!!!
http://www.sadd.org/pdf/05SADD_CFL_FS_2.pdf
Nan -- my parents had the same rule for me, and the same will go for my kids (who shouldn't drink based on our faith, but if they do - I want them to know it's okay to come to me!)
Susan -- I certainly agree that it's a problem within our own little non-famous society, but I think that a lot of that comes from the feelings of "well, if they can do it, so can I." Now, whether "they" is a buddy, family, neighbor, or star, is regardless. but I think that people who are in positions of power (such as stardom) that they have an OBLIGATION (okay, maybe that's a bit strong, but still) to speak out against such things.
We're following a lot of the attitudes towards drinking that you see in countries like France in our house. Drinking is not portrayed as something "bad" like I was exposed to growing up in Kansas - my grandmother wouldn't allow alcohol in her house so granddad had to keep his beer in the garage and only drank it when he went fishing. It's something you do responsibly. When we go out, either one of us has no alcohol or we use alternate forms of transport, and that includes family meals together. We don't get drunk. Thing 1 had his first taste of alcohol at age 4 weeks at his naming ceremony when as part of the ritual a finger tip of mead was placed on his tongue. Thing 2 the same.
Number 1 son doesn't like drinking so doesn't very often. Thing 1 doesn't like it. Thing 2 inherited the Thompson enjoyment of alcohol and loves it when we let him have a taste of wine. During Sunday roast dinners we will sometimes let him have his own tiny glass of extremely watered down wine.
If you kill someone while driving a vehicle or shoot someone behind the counter at 7-11.. the penalty should be the same.. Murder is murder. Yes drunk driving is Murder. You make the same decision to pull the trigger as you do to turn the key... The families of the victims all feel the same after the loss of a loved one.
Unfortunately, in the law office we see DUI's all too often. At least 1-2 calls a week minimum from people who have been charged, often more especially around the holidays. We even had a underage kid who received TWO DUI's within 2 weeks of one another.
While, needless to say, a DUI in NC can be very expensive for insurance rates, legal fees ($2-5,000), & mandatory alcohol/addiction treatment programs (if you want to get your DL back) - that's just the penalties for the lucky fools who got caught before they managed to kill anyone.
I agree 110% - there is NO EXCUSE. If you can afford a drink, you can afford a cab. People are bad enough drivers without adding in such idiocy as booze & texting.
On related topics, you might find my recent post interesting: http://delacruz-hopper.blogspot.com/2010/09/legal-curiosities.html
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