Anyone Have Family/friends Killed By A Drunk Driver?

[sunee]

Nope, but a guy I knew in high school got up from a party - totally smashed - got in his car and drove it into an elderly couple's living room. Lots of damage to the house, but the couple was fine.

 

[GrowingUpDisney]

My great aunt was killed by a drunk driver when I was like 7 years old. We were hit by a drunk driver about 9 years ago and we got REALLY bruised up, but luckily we didn't get killed...neither did he. Dh's knee is still messed up though.

 

[PrettyInTink]

My best friend in high school died alone in a wreck while driving drunk, only an hour after dropping me (also drunk) off at my car. I was supposed to spend the night with her, so I should have been in her car too. Hard to live with sometimes.......

 

[twinklebug]

In school I was excessively shy and had no friends. One girl made attempts to befriend me. I backed away thinking how could anyone want to be friends with me. She kept at it over several months until she broke through to me. The next month she had her permit and was driving her dad and little brother home from getting icecream when a car came around a corner on the wrong side of the road. As a new driver, her choices were to slam into a cliff on one side, or drop down into a 30' deep ditch on the other. She did neither, managing to save the car for the most part, saving the lives of her dad (our band conductor) and brother. She died at the scene.

The other driver wasn't drunk. He was on drugs.

 

[TinkerbellMama]

This is in response to the person who posted that Hilton's DUI was 'no big deal.'

No, but so help me...if I hear about [a certain family member] driving drunk again, I WILL call the police. I live about an hour away from this individual, and received a call last year about him driving drunk AT THAT MOMENT...I hung up with our relative and was literally about to call the police in his town when I got a call back stating he was now home and off the road.

To those of you who have lost loved ones to drunk drivers, I am so sorry.

 

[almburr]

i didnt know the personaly. It was great grandmother, grandmother, and mother those 3 died the 2 kids barely survived. A lady was drunk and flying down I-70 in Kansas plowed in behind them. Cousins DH was one of the Firefighter that was on scene. They knew them.

Last I heard the woman fled after she was bailed out

 

[dementia412]

This is an emotional topic for me right now. A couple years ago my nephew was hit by a drunk driver. He was paralized, but after surgery gained control of his arms. A few weeks ago I recieved the call telling me he had died of complications. The wreck had severly damaged his internal organs, and he had been in and out of the hospital since the accident. I grew up with him, and he was more like a little brother than a nephew. I couldn't even read all of this thread right now because it got me so upset. He was in his twenties, and engaged to be married. This was the second person in my family to be killed by a drunk driver. By uncle died over ten years ago, on the same day his daughter gave birth to her first child.
If anyone I knew ever stepped foot in a car while drunk I would call the cops in a heartbeat. They have no right to engager lives.

 

[Glendamax]

One of friends was killed by a drunk driver when we were in the 10th grade. Her name was Cherise Spears. You how mean girls can be around that age - well not Cherise! She was very fun to be around, and always had different colors of Wet N Wild fingernail polish in her bookbag! She loved having her nails done in many colors.

I'm sorry she's gone, but insted of feeling sad when I think of her, I smile

 

[LindsayDunn228]

My cousin's husband was the drunk driver. He didn't hit a person, but he wrapped his car around a utility pole and literally broke his face. That was a pretty big deal to him.

Well yeah, I guess that would be a pretty big deal to anyone in that situation

 

[poohandwendy]

Several friends when i was in high school. No one since then, thank God.

It's such a senseless, preventable tragedy.

 

[Smileybug]

I wish we could send this whole thread to anyone that thinks that drinking and driving is "no big deal". My post was #47 and here we are up to #70. And I'm sure there will be more. In my heart I have a candle lite for all of you.

Della

 

[U2_rocks!]

None of my family or friends has been hurt or killed in drunk driving accidents that I know of. In my country drunk driving fatalities aren't too common. We have small roads (mostly 1 lane in each direction) and much slower speeds (for the most part). In fact, I would say we lose more people every year to speeding and other careless behaviour that doesn't involve alcohol or drugs. Or, perhaps certain drugs are involved that never get measured - don't know.

Any risky behaviour that affects the control of a vehicle is a big deal - that includes speeding, excessive fiddling with things like cell phones and the stereo, and drinking/drugs. I wouldn't isolate alcohol as being the sole evil - my definition of "under the influence" is very broad, and covers lots of things that impair the ability to adequately control a vehicle.

I want to express my deepest sympathy to those who have lost anyone in any kind of accident - not just where alcohol or drugs were involved.

 

[Shannon G]

My FIL was killed when he was driving drunk back in 2003. He decided to try to outrun the cops, and almost made it home - he flipped the car (a convertible) while trying to take a curve in the road, and was ejected from the vehicle (not wearing a seatbelt either). Ironically, where he landed was actually on the edge of his own property. He underwent surgery early the next morning in which a piece of his skull was removed in order to relieve pressure caused by swelling in his brain. He was on life support for 13 days before the family made the decision to take him off the machines and let him go. Luckily, he didn't take anyone else with him - he did have a passenger in the car, but they were wearing their seatbelt and walked away with only minor injuries.

The saddest part is that even after seeing that, my now ex-DH still abuses alcohol, and drinks & drives. He had two DUI arrests in less than a year. I've heard him swear he's quitting more times than I can count, but at this point I doubt whether he'll ever stop drinking. I hate to say it, but I have my doubts as to whether he will survive to watch our two DDs grow up.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

no, thankfully!

My father drove under the influence - all the time and very often with us kids in the car. I had to learn in spite of him, not from him. DH and I will sometimes have a few under controlled conditions that do not involve driving only - cruises, neighborhood parties, camping, etc. I have always known that I am prone genetically to alcoholism from both sides of my family (DH too) - so I am careful not to abuse alcohol in any way. We are hoping DD will learn from our example.

to anyone affected by this tragedy!