The Law Offices of Sean M. Cleary 2018 Scholarship

To drink and drive is equivalent to taking a loaded gun and blindly firing in random directions. We as a main stream society know the dangers of drinking and driving but yet we tend to test fate with it every day. You should not drink and drive because why should one person decide, by driving drunk, to cut someones life short? To take away a family member(s)? By sitting behind the wheel after drinking you gamble with fate and death, and those are two forces who do not like to be cheated. Driving drunk can ruin life faster than the opening of a bottle.

Bright white lights surround you and all you can do is crack your eyes open and stare into the lights on the ceiling no idea as to how or why you are where you are. Now you're awake again and your family and some other people you can't quite recognize are crying next to you as you lay silent on your hospital bed while cops question your parents about what happened and as you listen in you hear them mention responsible for the death of Joshua who you remember is your closest friend and was with you last night after you left the club drunk together but is nowhere to be found now and you begin to panic. You muster up the energy despite the pain all of your body to ask where he is just for everyone to look at you ashamed through the pained tears. Your heart drops into your stomach and you feel sick to your core as you remember crashing head on into another car and realize those strangers are his parents and the family of the people in the other car. You are then informed of your friends passing and the passing of the people you hit. Don't let this be you. Driving drunk kills. It kills you on the inside while it takes the lives of those around you. Drinking and partying can be fun but do it responsibly, never get behind a wheel of a vehicle where you then become responsible for all the lives yoU're going to impact. All of that could have been prevented by a single phone call. The difference between life and death is one phone call away, be safe and just don't do it.

Many people, teenagers especially, believe that the number one reason they should not drink and drive is because it is illegal. In fact the number one reason anyone should not drink and drive is because they can hurt themselves or someone else. I am likely older than most applicants for this scholarship, but here are my personal experience and thoughts about drinking and driving. About 16 years ago, I got off of my school bus at my high school. My best friend and I commented on how odd it was that there were so many administrators standing out front. The counselor and vice principal immediately intercepted us and pulled us into a corner. Across the way we could see a counselor for the junior class talking to some girls and those girls broke out in tears. Our counselor then told us that four students from our school had been killed over the weekend by a drunk driver. The driver of another vehicle crossed the line and hit their vehicle, four teenage lives lost. One of the teenagers killed was a friend of ours. A friend that my best friend was particularly close to. We took the news hard and the school was in turmoil for weeks. Fast forward to almost 20 years later, and I now have a 15 year old son. He will be driving next year, and all I can hope is that he makes the right decisions. Even if my son makes the right decisions, his life behind the wheel depends on others making the right decisions. When someone chooses to drink and drive they are putting their life at the greatest risk, but they are also risking the lives of those around them. The response time while under the influence of alcohol is greatly reduced. Combining that with the inexperienced driving skills of a teenager is dreadful. I will continue to reinforce to my son, many times, the importance of calling for a ride if he finds himself in a situation where he nor his friends are in the state of mind to drive. The legal connotations of drinking and driving should honestly be a reason at the bottom of the list. The number one reason any individual should not drink and drive is out of respect for not only their own lives, but the lives of those on the road along side them.

4,300 teens are killed yearly because of alcohol related crashes. Teens who start drinking young are 7 times more likely to be in alcohol related accidents. 40% of 10th graders drink alcohol. Teenage drinking ruins your life and educational opportunities, (NIDA, 1998). These are a few of the many reasons and rationales why we should not drink and drive. Some other reasons include: Lost of Driving privileges, Loss income/job, Stiff penalties, Arrest, Deaths and lifetime injuries, Addictions, ruined lives, Psychological turmoil and guilt, Other serious consequences. Alcohol impairs judgment, decreases inhibitions, causes risky behaviors, affects one’s ability to identify dangerous situations, and causes one to make bad choices. One, tragic incident occurred with a teen who attended my Church sometimes. She was known for being a partier, and fast driver when under the influence, however no one told her mother about her behavior. On one fatal night, she was in her Lexus with friends (4) and was travelling down Beeline Highway at a speed higher than 100 mph, when she crashed and everyone was killed on impact, except one male. He could impart what happened to cause the tragic accident. There were many sad parents, family members, friends, and many funerals because of one individual’s poor judgment. All she had to do was call a cab, if she was going to drink, leave the car behind, or not drink at all, being she was the designated driver. She was only 18 years old, as well as the other friends, who died, due to her negligence. We must instill in our loved ones to call if they need a ride home. This incident is proof positive why we should not drink and drive.