The number one thing to take note of when it comes to drunk driving is that the arrests, injuries, and deaths that occur because someone mixed alcohol and driving are completely preventable. If you get behind the wheel of a car drunk it’s a choice you’re making, and no matter how out of it you may be at the time, you’re responsible for that choice.
The people driving on the roads in San Diego County should keep that in mind. With the Fourth of July holiday looming over them, the county had already been on a losing streak as far as alcohol and driving. For eight weekends in a row, someone in that single county in California had died in a DUI crash. Among the victims were a woman who was eight months pregnant. Both she and her unborn baby died. There was also a man out jogging with his wife, and a drunk driver jumped the curb and crashed into him.
That’s a lot of families who have lost someone they loved to a preventable crash, and many police officers who have had to go and break the news to those families. Things have become so bad there that, right before the Fourth of July holiday, police and civic leaders in the county came before the press while standing in front of a smashed vehicle and essentially begged people to not drink and drive during the holiday. Given that the Fourth of July is considered one of the most dangerous days of the year to be on the roads, they had a tough task ahead of them.
Unfortunately, the plea to stop drunk driving didn’t work: two more people were killed on the Fourth in San Diego County, and 62 people were arrested for DUI-related charges.
What’s it going to take to stop the constant flow of drunk drivers in San Diego County? It’s a huge problem that’s probably got law enforcement stumped, but at the very least they have a brand new ignition interlock law taking effect in 2018 and that will definitely be a helping hand. It may still be a year away, but it’s definitely a law that’s needed in San Diego County.
