Last night was crazy. Well, not in the sense that I was out like all the other normal 20-somethings on a Saturday night like I should be, but it ended up being crazy none the less. Now, it began not just tame but mundane; far too much blog trolling and photos of WAY too many good foods got my stomach yelling at me and I decided I had to make a trek to the grocery store.
Now, I don’t have a car (story for another time, sort of like when one thing goes wrong it sets off a chain of events sort of thing…kinda funny, I’ll share later) but there is an Albertsons about a 1/4 mile from my apartment so it’s an easy walk. It was getting later, but the weather here was super nice and still a wee bit light out after 9 pm.
Got my supplies and was on my way back home; I probably looked like a hobo because I was seriously packing a backpack, another drawstring bag, and then a grocery bag…super hot. I live right off the freeway so as I was approaching the stoplight and getting ready to press the little cross-walk button when I hear a load screech. The kind that a car makes when it is out of control.
I turn to my left, in my mind I’m sure some idiot it taking the freeway exit ramp WAY too fast. It’s a curvy exit, and just as I look over I see a big old car come swerving around the bend. From there there was a huge spark that lit up the sky (it was dark by this point) and the squeal of metal on pavement. The car had taken the turn so sharp it had flipped over, skid through the oncoming traffic lane and then kept on going off the side of the road and into the bushes.
I looked around, I could still see the back of the flipped over car poking out and I reached for my phone. Another car that had just been about to turn right onto that street (had they turned a few seconds earlier they would have been hit) stopped and I hurried over to them.
While I was on the phone with the emergency operator I see a burly guy start to emerge out of the side of the truck. From the second I heard that first squeal I was sure it was going to be a case of a DUI, and when I saw this dazed out dude with a mohawk bumbling out of the mess it only confirmed my suspicion. How this guy was still alive and okay way beyond me, and I was just as floored when I saw his partner come crawling out after him.
This guy was wearing some thin white cotton tee, the ones that come in those three packs on sale at Kmart, and had no shoes on. Not a scratch on him, and he’s rubbing his bald head like he’d forgotten where he put his keys. Both of these dudes are just sort of standing there looking at the mess, I hope some of the situation was starting to sink in. Probably more just scared about the cops showing up.
Well, the cops and ambulances arrive and start taking care of things. It turns out that not only were these guys too intoxicated to be driving but the very same set of cops had JUST been called out on these very same two guys at the bar not 30 minutes ago! The police had called them a cab and warned them not to drive home…the freaking cab had been there and these guys STILL decided to put the lives of others in danger. On a side note, it was still only about 10pm, who in the heck is already this bad this early in the night?!
This hits kind of close to home a few ways; first because two of my friends’ father was killed by a drunk driver, there was also a boy I went to high school with who died because he was driving while he was drunk. The second was because of my own car accident; no it wasn’t because the guy was drunk but being hit by a car is not fun all the same. This time it was lucky in that the only people who will have to pay will be the two idiots who were driving when they shouldn’t have been. The kicker is that they were too drunk to realize at the time how freaking lucky they were to just be alive! I also just kept thinking about if that car had turned one minute sooner, or heck, if I had already started walking into the cross-walk and they had skidded down a little further.
Anyways, don’t really know where I’m going with this, but I was just so disgusted I had to vent. It’s one thing to have fun, drink, let loose…that is totally fine by me and power to you! But there is no excuse to take to the roads if you aren’t in the right state of mind to do so.
Well, I hate to close on a downer, but it’s a pretty serious matter. But I don’t want to come off sounding like some cheesy PSA either! I hope all of you had GREAT weekends and weren’t so lame as me to be going to the flipping store on a Saturday night! haha…that said, the blueberry muffins tasted mighty good! 🙂
1) Have you or anyone you know been affected by a drunk driver?
2) Weekends…let’s hear about them!
Oh my goodness! What a scary night! So glad you're ok. I can't believe that even with all the options available after drinking people would still ever consider driving.
I was asleep by about 9:30 on Saturday night, don't feel bad!!
🙂
i agree, vanessa, it's horrible that people can make such foolish mistakes. and thanks for not making me feel too bad about my oh-so-not wild saturday nights. 😉
Howdy! I know this is kinda off topic but I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest authoring a blog post or vice-versa? My blog goes over a lot of the same topics as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other. If you happen to be interested feel free to send me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Awesome blog by the way!