Drink and Drive..Don't think so.

When I was a police officer, I quickly learned the hazards of driving while intoxicated. I must confess that prior to my street education I was a novice when it came to having a few drinks, climbing behind the wheel and driving my merry way. Due to a very strict upbringing by a total Irish Police family, I never even entertained the option of drinking and driving. It was made perfectly clear to me very early on that not only would I lose my driving privilege, I would stand to lose a whole lot more. Therefore, for me, it was never an option within my thought process.

When I first took to the streets as a sworn officer, I paid little heed to drunks on the road. Back then, if someone had a few too many we would make him or her park the vehicle and call someone to drive him or her home. As I said, we were novices at that time and bad things resulting from drinking were the last thing on our mind. There was a whole street full of crime, it was the 1970 era and it was only getting worse. We were just in the learning stages of drugs and compared to having a few drinks and driving just was not on my mind.

Then everything changed one Saturday morning at approximately 2:30 am. A man and women were driving their convertible home from visiting a few friends and having one too many to drink. We calculated they were traveling in excess of 93MPH in a 35MPH residential zone when the driver lost control and rolled four times before coming to a stop.

The male and female were both deceased, but that was nothing compared to finding the car seat thrown thirty-five feet away. Yes, it had been occupied and yes, the worst possible scenario. That one accident placed everything into proper perspective for me. I had considered myself a good street cop, had a high arrest and conviction record and relatively respected by the department and my fellow officers.

From that point on I went out of my way to insure people did not drink and drive in my beat. The legal maneuvering following each arrest never ceased to amaze me, but I learned the ropes and soon most attorneys would not even go to court if I were the arresting officer. You can only do so many things without learning to dot the eyes and cross the tees.

Fast forward to today, I have yet to ever drink and drive, nope, I refuse and I have too many visions to remind me in the rare event I forget. Now we are looking at technology capable of shutting off the vehicle, or refusing to start it if the driver has alcohol in their system.

This article goes into this subject very well and I can well imagine there will be a lot of public outcry resulting from this and any subsequent laws enacted by any city or state. As far as I am concerned, it is not soon enough. Driving and drinking does not work, pure and simple, people are killed and it is not usually the driver of the vehicle who was tempting fate in the first place.

My closing thoughts to this are, there is someone, somewhere patrolling that is a lot better than I was and he or she will get the drinker eventually. I can only hope and pray that it is not too late for an innocent bystander.