Drink and drive? Think again

Don’t drink and drive, don’t drink and drive.

“Yeah, yeah,” we say, “I won’t … unless I’m just taking the back streets or if I don’t want to leave my car overnight or if I just want to go home and not sleep on this random person’s couch.”

We have a million excuses.

In a lame effort to save time and money, most of us have either been in the car with someone drinking or done it ourselves.

Well, this is a wake-up call to you, through me. I’m not one to preach and lecture, but Saturday night I saw a hit-and-run.

I saw two people in the middle of the crosswalk literally get mowed down by a black sedan with tinted windows. I heard the sickening thud of their bodies against the car.

I saw their bodies airborne and then land on the pavement as the car sped away. I have never been more shaken up. I called 911 and at least four cars stopped until the ambulance got there.

The male victim didn’t get hit as hard, so he was immediately up and at his companion’s side. Her head was bleeding and she seemed stunned.

I held her hand and won’t ever forget the vacant and scared look in her dark brown eyes. How can a driver hit another human being and just leave? Why did this happen?

In my estimation, there seems to be no substantial explanation other than alcohol.

I am just a regular student like you who is just trying to get by. I don’t fight for causes or protest, and I usually couldn’t care less about anything happening on campus. But I am begging you all to consider this story.

This could have easily been any one of us, and that is the scariest part. I never really took this advice to heart because drinking and driving is such a common practice.

I can’t get the awful images or sounds out of my mind and I can’t stop my hands from shaking yet.

Please reconsider next time you are tempted to drink and drive. Please don’t.

Williford is a fourth-year American literature and culture student.

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