Drunk Driving...Will People Ever Learn?

[EMT324]

Maybe I just need to vent, who knows. Today was the funeral of a 23yr old man killed in a drunk driving accident over the weekend. I just happened to be working this night and was the first ambulance on the scene. As I walk up to a totally demolished Ford Mustang, I notice a body slumped over in the passenger seat. This is a small community and pretty much everybody knows everybody. Before i get all the way to the car, my partner had already assesed and advised that the pt. in the car was DOA. So i go on to the other pt., a 25 yr. old female lying along the roadway with with a facial fracture and numerous other injuries. At this point, the smell of alcohol in the air is sickening. We load this pt. in our ambulance and transport to a local hospital, which is about 25-30 minutes away and we couldn't get a helicopter due to fog. Upon arriving back at the scene to drop off an extra EMT, the fire department is extricating the body from the car. This is when i notice this 23 yr. old man is actually a guy I knew quite well and went to high school with. He was the front seat passenger in the vehicle. There was a total of 4 people in the vehicle but luckily 3 of them got out alive. Now one life is lost an possibly another ruined with criminal charges.

Will people ever learn to not drink and drive? How many innocent people have to die before this stops? :mad:

[Rossco]

Probably not, unfortunately.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend.

A week before christmas 04, same kind of situation here. It was a friends 18 year old son. We were at the station, and the crash was with in sight of us, and still could do nothing to help him.

[DaSharkie]

No, they will never learn. Just as they will never learn to drive with their seatbelts on.

It is tough to lose someone like that.

We had a dual fatality in my old POC department. One kid died in the car (20 y/o) and the other that we transported who died on the way to the ED. Sad thing is one of them died in the front yard of their next door neighbor, which was also across the street from his grandfather's house.

[PattyV]

Will people ever learn to not drink and drive?
unfortunately no. :( just as people will constantly think that they dont need smoke detectors, they dont need seat belts, the speed limit is just a guideline and bad things only happen to other people.

My brother once had the same situation. He found out that his friend who was also in the fire brigade had been speeding and had crashed. He died in the crash. I also found out that my old friend that i hadnt seen in a few years became paralised.

If any of you aussies remember the story of Shem and his website www.shemboy.comfrom 'a current affair' a while back, thats the bloke im talking about.