|
Drunken driving's deadly message worth repeating 3/31/99 In a scared-straight inspired discussion on the often-tragic results of drinking and driving, Purdue University fraternity members repeatedly pressed a Mothers Against Drunk Driving speaker: OK, so drinking and driving is bad, but short of wrestling the intoxicated guy to the ground, how do we keep someone from getting behind the wheel if he insists he feels fine? That's a tough question with no easy answer, the MADD speaker admitted Sunday. But the question remains one that must be asked and responded to with advice time and time again. Even with public service campaigns geared to remind social drinkers to "know when to say when" and everyone else that "friends don't let friends drink and drive," regular doses of anti-drunken driving rhetoric should be delivered early and often. Doling out the drinking and driving statistics during Memorial Day, Fourth of July or other weekends with the highest rates of alcohol-related crashes is fine. But the sad truth is that the toll exacted by drunken drivers offers few holidays. New details reported this week of a horrific March 21 crash on County Road 350 South bring that fact home. Three people were killed when a pickup truck driven by Jeffrey Pedone Trout, a 39-year-old Lafayette man, crossed the centerline, grazed one car, swerved off the right shoulder and crossed the centerline again, hitting a car carrying Sarah Towery and Earl E. Smith, both of Illinois. Toxicology results for Trout might not be available for several weeks, according to the Tippecanoe County coroner. But court records show he was convicted twice for driving while intoxicated. A third drunken driving case was pending in Boone County, where he was to be sentenced on April 9. An earlier drunken driving conviction was reported in Arizona. He also was driving with a suspended license, yet his truck was properly registered in his name. So many tough questions remain. Could anything more have been done to keep Trout off the road? How did he get his truck registered - a procedure that must be backed by proper insurance - if his license was revoked? Are Indiana's laws sufficient to stop vehicle registration for drivers with multiple drunken driving convictions? Could tougher penalties for multiple drunken driving offenses have kept him from getting behind the wheel? Few easy answers are available. But maybe it offers a costly learning point for those fraternity brothers and other young drivers coming of drinking age who shared their friends-don't-let-friends dilemma during this weekend's MADD demonstration. The MADD "Safe Party Guide" offers this advice for friends who might have had too much but insist they feel fine: "The first time is the hardest, but your actions could save your friend's life or that of an innocent victim. Pull your guest aside and politely, but firmly, tell them that you cannot let them drive home because you care. Offer to let the guest spend the night, call a cab or ask another, sober guest to drive the intoxicated person home." The advice isn't complicated. The more we repeat it to our children, our friends, our parents, our students and ourselves, the sooner it will stick and the sooner our roads will become that much safer. Need a lift? Have you or a friend had too much to drink and need a lift home? Save these telephone numbers. Fast Cab: 474-4450 Copyright 1999 Lafayette Journal and Courier |
