Jewish Life In My 20s
Encumbered by risks, even on the safe road.
have softened her perspective a bit, but
drunk driver is a thief. The
not the mission.
drunk driver in Princess
We couldn't have done anything dif-
Diana's car stole her life.
ferently.
Both times, I was at a com-
thers take away that innate
plete
stop,
at a red light. I sat in my car
feeling of safety behind the wheel.
behind
the
wheel, seatbelted and think-
It all boils down to one thing:
ing.
People
hit me. There was nothing I
responsibility.
could
have done to prevent it.
When you get your
In
addition
to the initial,
license and take to the road,
deep-rooted scare, these two
you make a lot of assump-
accidents have taught me how
tions: that you will be aware
precious
life is. I could be
at the wheel and notice
dead
right
now But for some
everything around you, and
stroke
of
fate
or luck or God's
that the other millions of
hand,
I
am
alive.
I walked
drivers on the road are doing
away
with
a
few
bruises
and
their best to drive well and
some
emotional
scars.
But
I
safely.
walked away.
LYNNE
You are wrong.
Not everyone is that lucky.
Not only will you occa-
MEREDITH
Last year, 555 people died in
sionally not notice some of
COHN
alcohol-related car accidents
the things outside your car
Staff Writer
in the state of Michigan, out
windows, I assure you that
of a total of 1,505 people
others on the road are not
killed i n car accidents in this state. And
paying attention, at least some of the
time. And too often, a lot of the time.
On Aug. 5, a 19-year-old with a bad
driving record plowed into my car from
behind. I was at a red light, completely
stopped. Rear-ended at 40 miles per
hour. My car, and hers, were totaled.
On Aug. 25, a 38-year-old drunk
driver ran head-on into the car I was
driving. Suspended license, no insur-
ance, expired registration. He passed
out at the wheel. Hospital tests showed
his blood alcohol level to be 0.3.
I was stopped at a red light. My sis-
ter was behind me. Thank God for -
sports-utility vehicles.
On Aug. 27, Diana, Princess of
Wales, died in a drunk-driving accident
in Paris. The blood alcohol level of the
driver of the armored Mercedes Benz
was 0.228.
I have become the Tipper Gore of
safe driving. How many people do you
know, regardless of age, who have a few
drinks and get behind the wheel?
Immediately after my second acci-
dent, my sister, angry at the violation
caused by a driver who took our lives
into his control, vowed to warn her
friends who drink of the dangers their
habit can cause. Perhaps incensed by
the idiocy of our situation, she said she
didn't care if she lost a friend or two
because of it — safe driving, and inno-
cent lives, are the main concerns.
In the days that ensued, she may
Ao
a lot of drunk drivers walk away from
the damage they cause with little more
than scratches and lawsuits. (Statistics
provided by AAA Michigan.)
What does this say? That we have
little control over our lives, hard as that
may be to accept.
Motor-vehicle accidents also teach
the importance of appreciating the
moments we have, rather than the
moments gone bad or listless dreams of
some day. We should be cognizant of
the future and even plan for it, but we
must not live for it. Because while you
may not want to admit it, there is no
guarantee that the future will come.
I learned these lessons of life
through two terrifying car accidents.
On a global level, we all have wit-
nessed, and some have even felt, the
pain of losing lives to alcohol.
Diana was our generation's JFK. She
was none of us and all of us, represent-
ing dreams we will never realize and
horrors too many of us know.
C'mon, admit it: We dreamt over
those photographs, whether in the
National Enquirer or People. We lived
vicariously through her. And parts of
us, perhaps our vivid fantasy lives, died
with Di.
Maybe the paparazzi chasing after
that Mercedes caused the fatal accident.
Maybe we caused it by wanting to see
those photos in some checkout line
tabloid.
But even if careless, reckless drunk
driving was the cause of death, we are
partly responsible: for every time we let
someone who has been drinking get in
a car.
The Michigan Secretary of State dri-
ver's license renewal test asks the effect
of ingesting two alcoholic drinks. The
answer is not that the driver is legally
drunk. For some, that may be true. But
I know others who sip half a glass of
wine and feel woozy.
Don't take risks with other people's
lives. None of us is God. When our
time comes, we have no control. And
while we're here, realize that we still
have little say over how our lives pan
out. Make the most of it. We have no
other choice.