The Devastating Side of A DUI

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I live in America, and every state across the nation has strict laws against drinking and driving. For good reasons, excellent reasons, actually. The consequences can far exceed what we expect out of them- jailtime, fines, loss of a drivers license, and the fact that it will potentially haunt you on your criminal record for years. I have a few stories to share, as I feel after seeing certain situations happen to people who are close to me, detramental situations should be shared with my "outside" friends to curb the thought of getting behind the wheel after drinking. It can be far more costly than anyone realizes. I have a friend who had been at her sister's house hanging out one evening, and had less than 3 beers over the course of a few hours. Seems safe enough to drive, right? She claimed she didn't worry about any imapairment, got in the car and was ready to drive the 10 mile destination to go home. Well, on the way, she ended up in a car accident-hitting a car with an elderly woman driving. This woman ended up going to the hospital and died there 2 weeks later-staying in the hopstial the whole time. My friend went to prison for this-for involuntary manslaughter, for 10 months, and deemed a felon. This was her first and only major criminal offense. And what's even worse, she had just completed her background check to work for a unified school district. Not only was she unable to take her prospective job, she has no option to be employed there, as no one with any felony status can work in such a place around children. She will not have this off her record for a minimum of 7 years. I have another friend who recently got a DUI this summer. She was driving from a club to a friend's house to continue the party at his home. She was stopped, arrested, and booked for driving under the influence. Typical case for the most part, she knew she was looking at fines, and she had to serve 2 days in jail. The worst of it though money wise is that she notified her car insurance company of this, and got her quote for the new insurance, after having this on her record now. She told me that her insurance premiums increased from $87 per month to $430 a month. She is on a tight budget and this new amount will now cost her nearly half of her monthly income. And this will be high, as she is now a high risk driver, for a minimum of 3 years. I have another friend who is on her 2nd offense DUI. She cannot even obtain car insurance at this point, and to make matters worse, the state has pulled her license until 2014! (The sentence was ruled earlier this year.) That is 5 years without a license. Not only that, she has to serve 20 days upcoming in jail, which is going to be split in 2 10-day spans, so she can still go to work and not lose her job or her apartment for failure to be able to pay her bills. She says she is dreading jailtime-it is going to be the hardest thing she has ever done, and she has to figure out what she is going to do to make sure she earns the money to get by, as she lives alone. I used to housekeep for a woman who was in a wheelchair, and who was unable to walk at all. After housekeeping for her for a few months, she shared her story with me. She was hit in the late 1980's by a drunk driver who nearly killed her and totalled her car. She spent extensive time in the hospital just fighting for her life. She pulled through, but a couple months later, after going through extensive physical tests, she was deemed paralyzed from the waist down and was told there was too much nerve damage for her to walk again. She hasn't been in a standing position in over 20 years. I am an advocate for sober driving, because these people are suffering tremendously for their poor decisions, or being a victim of someone else's poor decisions and it has affected their lives in more ways than anyone on "the other side" can ever imagine. If you have any stories to share, please do. This point cannot be made clear enough for those who may not understand what potentiallly could happen.