Blog post - drink driving. Please share

Ettenna

This blog post was written by my niece on the first anniversary of my daughters car accident. She was probably drink driving and was wearing no seatbelt. It shows some of the impact this action has on family and friends. Feel free to share it - we want the message to be passed on.

http://beccaboofun.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/helens-story.html?m=1

Thank you.

nuttywoman

That is such a powerful blog, thank you for sharing , love to you xx

southoftheriver

Thank you for sharing. I wish your daughter and your family the very best x

coolcait

It is a very moving blog, and I share the good wishes for you and your family.

I also hope that your daughter's passenger has fully recovered from the serious injuries that she suffered. If she still suffers as a result of the crash, then my best wishes go to her too.

Thankfully, this wasn't a crash which involved another car.

tayforth

Very moving indeed. My thoughts and best wishes are with you all.

Tiddlywinks

Sorry that your family has had to go through this... BUT the pain is a result of the actions of a young woman drinking and driving...

That neurological unit in Oxford has a very limited availability of beds - I know because my mum had to wait to get in there and she had a brain tumour which killed her a month later - the impact of this young girl drinking and driving and then crashing meant that she was taking up valuable resources that others were then prevented from accessing.

I just wanted to show the flip side of the pain felt by other families whose relatives are impacted every day by the selfish act of drinking and driving.

kremmen

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

Sorry that your family has had to go through this... BUT the pain is a result of the actions of a young woman drinking and driving...

That neurological unit in Oxford has a very limited availability of beds - I know because my mum had to wait to get in there and she had a brain tumour which killed her a month later - the impact of this young girl drinking and driving and then crashing meant that she was taking up valuable resources that others were then prevented from accessing.

I just wanted to show the flip side of the pain felt by other families whose relatives are impacted every day by the selfish act of drinking and driving.

Harsh comments. I understand your pain but OP was trying to share the tale as a warning not promoting the idea.

OP is very brave to post this.

Sorry for everyone's pain.

Paul

coolcait

kremmen wrote: »

Harsh comments. I understand your pain but OP was trying to share the tale as a warning not promoting the idea.

OP is very brave to post this.

Sorry for everyone's pain.

Paul

I agree that the OP was probably sharing the tale as a warning.

Nevertheless, the blog is a very one-sided view of the impact which drink-driving can have.

The focus is on the drunk driver - should he/she happen to survive. And the impact which that has on the drunk driver's family.

Yet, other innocent people can be affected by drink driving.

In this blog, the drunk driver had a passenger, who was seriously injured in the crash.

The seriously injured passenger makes a brief appearance in the blog, mainly as the means to get help for the drunk driver and her passenger.

The blog doesn't tell us how the passenger got on after the crash. It's all about the drunk driver and her family.

If the drunk driver had wrapped her car around another vehicle, with a driver and passengers, then she would have caused more trauma to more people.

How would the blog have dealt with that?

In the same way that it dealt with the fact that a - possibly suicidal - drunk driver is/was occupying a hospital bed which might have been used to save someone else's life?

As warnings go, those facts on how drink driving can affect many, many people might have a greater inpact than the idea that "you might not kill yourself, you might just end up in a vegetative state".

It depends on the selfishness of the driver

VfM4meplse

Thanks for posting OP.

The devastating impact that type 1 diabetes can have on teenagers and young adults is very poorly understood. Some take it in their stride, but for theirs it can be hell on earth.

Toto

So what should we do with this teenager who had made some very poor choices? Not treat her because she's taking up a bed which could be used for someone more deserving? In which case I suppose on admission of everyone we need a full breakdown of all of their life choices to ensure that someone undeserving doesn't slip through the net and get a bed meant for the pure and unblemished members of society.

I'm not condoning what this girl has done, I'm sure her mum isn't either. I read the blog as a warning, this is what can happen if you drink drive and in many respects this girl has been lucky, lucky she didn't kill anyone, lucky she is alive and lucky she has a caring family.

andygb

How is the passenger getting on?
Is she making a good recovery?