One of These Things Does Not Go With the Other

Remember the highway sign, from a few months ago, that read, “Peas and Guac go together like drinking and driving”? What about orange juice and toothpaste (ick) or water and cereal (I mean, unless that’s your thing…)? Vodka and bad decisions (or tequila, we’ve all been there…)? Decisions like drinking and driving. These last two should absolutely not go together.

We all know this, so why do we do it? Probably for the same reason we drunk dial or get a little too cray in the club – it feels right at the time, until the next day, when we’ve been caught doing something we for sure are now regretting.

But, why does it feel right in that time? Think about it. These things have one, single commonality. Alcohol! Liquor, spirits, whatever you prefer to call it, it is not our friend. It whispers sweet nothings into our conscious and we want to believe all the sweet (not so sweet) things it’s promising. #rude

“You can totally get that girl/guy’s number! Didn’t you see how they were looking at you”, wink, wink. Or, “you should totally text him/her, that last call saying don’t call or text me back wasn’t for real. They really do want you to text them, at 2 in the morning, as many times as it takes to take you back”.

The worst one, though, “you should just drive home. It costs too much to Uber and you can use that money to get a delicious burrito instead. You didn’t drink that much, you got this”.

Don’t listen! Don’t fall prey to that lovely, vodka infused, voice. You don’t need that kind of aftermath negativity in your life. Think of it as the “devil” on your shoulder. Who should you listen to – the good or the bad side of the imaginary person on your shoulder? I would hope that we would all choose the good…

But, in case you may lean towards the “not so good” side, maybe these statistics will “sober you up” (up top for the pun!). Did you know:

• On average, three in five people will be involved in a crash due to impaired driving in their lifetime.
• Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for more than 30% of all driving fatalities each year.
• Every day, almost 30 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes—that’s one person every 48 minutes.

These are scary statistics. One’s that no one would want to be a part of – I would hope. Have you ever seen or been a part of a DUI incident or fatality? I have. I have seen a couple of accidents that involved a drunk driver. It was not pretty. It was actually so ugly and bad that even to this day I can still see it just as vividly as I did when it was in front of me.

It involved a motorcycle, it was about 6 in the morning, and it was fatal, and I happened to be driving by right as it happened. The driver of the bike did not make it. It was traumatizing for me, so I can only imagine how it must have been for the other driver, for the families involved, for anyway who had been touched by their presence.

And the one who was drunk, who essentially killed the driver of the bike, he/she didn’t intentionally do it. No one would. It was a poor decision which led to a horrible consequence. We have all made bad decisions, I will be the first to admit that. This one, though, was irreparable.

Drinking can be fun, a lot of fun. It helps lower your inhibitions when you are put in an uncomfortable situation. We have talked before about how it can be used as a good ice breaker. It helps bring people together that may have never crossed paths otherwise. Alcohol does have its benefits.

First of all, moderation. Much like anything else, drinking should be done in moderation (a subject for another time). Second of all, you need to keep your head. What do I mean by that? I mean that you should not drink so much that your conscious abandons you. This is when you do those things that should not be done together, i.e. drinking and driving.

So, go ahead, drink, have fun, get loose, chill out, party on friends! You deserve it, you are free to do you boo. Don’t drink and drive, don’t drink and text, don’t drink and call, don’t do two things that do not go together. Ain’t nobody got time for a DUI.

If you do get one though, or know someone who has, we don’t want you to spend an exorbitant amount of time figuring out and working your way through the mess that a DUI brings. Here at DPX DUI Process Experts, we care about you, we care about your well-being, and we want to help you fix this mess.

We don’t judge, we don’t criticize, we HELP. We help you get through each step – alcohol assessment, counseling classes, traffic survival school, ignition interlock, and getting an SR-22. These steps can be confusing and there are very few people out there that are willing to help you through it.

So, give us a call! We would love to talk to you and help you out. 602-441-9444. And visit our website at duiprocessexperts.com. So many questions can be answered there and the rest we can take care of.

Remember, alcohol does not have your best interest at heart, but we do! Be safe, be responsible, and have fun all at the same time – it can be done!