Drunk driving accidents are all too common. They happen all over the country, in big cities and on back roads in small towns. All kinds of people drive drunk. The phenomenon occurs with rich and poor, any gender, ethnicity, or any other demographic you’d care to name.
1.5 million Americans face drunk driving arrests yearly, and that number seldom deviates much. It’s proof positive that poor decision-making never goes out of style. There are myriad ways that drunk driving can change someone’s life, and almost never for the better. Let’s talk about a few of those ways right now.
First, let’s look at drunk driving from the person’s perspective who does it. Losing your license is one thing that can happen if you drive drunk.
If the police catch you and you can’t pass a breathalyzer test, you will likely end up in jail. That’s problematic since you might not show up for work the next day. Your boss may wonder what happened to you. You can attempt to conceal the drunk driving arrest, but the details will likely come out one way or another.
This can negatively impact your position with your company. Even if you’re the business’s owner, that doesn’t mean you won’t see some negative consequences. Word of your arrest might reach the ears of your regular customers. You could become a laughingstock, and some might choose to do their business elsewhere.
Also, you could lose your driver’s license. If that happens, you may have to take remedial driving classes to get it back. If it’s your first time ending up in front of a judge following a drunk driving arrest, then you might get off with a warning, but you will probably at least have to pay a fine.
If the judge has warned you repeatedly about driving drunk, though, they may take your license permanently. If that happens, you must use public transportation from that point forward.
That’s potentially inconvenient. If there are not many trains or buses where you live, getting to work, the grocery store, and other places becomes exceedingly complicated. You may need rides from family members or friends, and they probably won’t like that very much.
If you strike another vehicle while driving drunk, you may also injure or kill someone or multiple people. If you have a conscience, that won’t sit well with you. You might replay the decision to drive that day again and again in the coming years. You may wish you’d called an Uber or Lyft, but you can’t take the decision back. No one can turn back time.
If you hurt or kill someone or multiple people, you’ll also face criminal charges. You might face some serious jail time, even if you never committed a crime before. You’ll endure a public scandal as well. While in jail, you can easily imagine the neighbors looking at your family members and shaking their heads sadly. They’ll know what you did, and they’ll know the shame your family feels as well.
Spending time in jail isn’t something that helps most people. You might come out years later greatly changed. You may feel more cynical. Your former life might seem idyllic, but now, you’re a convicted felon, and the feeling that comes with that never goes away.
Your job or career might not be there when you get out. Perhaps you’ll try to reclaim a position you had, but your former company won’t want you. They may feel you have too much baggage. Any time you apply for a new job, you must more than likely tell your new employer about your past.
If you drive drunk and cause a wreck, you may also face severe financial penalties if you hurt or kill someone. Even if you get lucky and don’t cause any deaths or injuries, you may still cause property damage and have to pay for that.
That can drain your savings account if you have one. If you don’t have very much money in savings, or none at all, the individual you harmed or the owner of the property you damaged might go after you in court. If you drove drunk, you’ll have little defense. You must pay them what the court determines, and that can leave you bankrupt.
You Might Face Your Life Without a Loved One
If someone else drives drunk and hits your vehicle, that’s no better. Maybe you’re a responsible driver, and you did nothing wrong, but a vehicle still comes out of nowhere and strikes your car anyway. Perhaps the accident hurts you, or maybe it injures or kills someone else in the car.
If that’s a family member, maybe you must live your life without that person going forward. That’s heartbreaking. Perhaps you lost a spouse in the car accident, or a sibling, or even a child.
Living with that loss means you won’t ever feel the same. The responsible party might go to jail, or they may pay you some money for pain and suffering, or both. However, that’s not often much comfort. You may wonder about the injustice of it all. It’s enough to make you feel lost and hopeless.
If the car wreck hurts you, maybe you can’t work at a job you loved anymore. Perhaps you can accept some other position with your company or in your industry, but maybe you must retire and go on disability. That won’t feel fair, but there’s little you can do. Fate dealt you this hand, but you might curse the person who did this in your private moments.
All this sounds like a lot of doom and gloom, but these outcomes happen frequently when someone drives drunk. You must always avoid this perilous behavior and hope you never encounter a drunk driver when you’re out on the road.