#drunk driver

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #499

I had so many pictures for you today. But... the internet in the hotel we're staying in is down for some reason, and cellphone signal here is weak, so not even mobile hotspot is working very well right now. I'll have to include the vast majority of today's pictures in tomorrow's letter. But perhaps that's just as well; I intend to do absolutely fucking nothing tomorrow, anyway.

...Or... I guess as much “nothing” as I can get away with, given that J has to figure out how to get the plane's oil changed, in any case. I'm not really sure what tomorrow's gonna look like. But I'm sure as hell gonna hope it looks like “sleeping in”, holy shit.

Today started well enough. We found an awesome pho place as we were leaving San Jose, California:

...These pictures seriously don't do the flavors of this food any justice at all. This is better even than the stuff available at home, and I gotta say, Pho Yum is pretty freaking stellar. And the kindly folks who ran the shop were lovely, too. There was certainly a bit of a language gap, since they mainly speak Vietnamese. But we all mostly understand gestures and smiles. We also both understand the phrase “fresh avocado”; the lady shopkeep was suggesting we get their avocado smoothie, because it was fresh and delicious, and they absolutely were not wrong!!

We then flew for a very long time, in chunks of time between 45 minutes and 2 and a half hours. I think we stopped at 2 or 3 airports to refuel; my memory of it was kind of fuzzy because, once again, I was drifting in and out of sleep.

I did still manage to get some amazing pictures of the scenery, though. I can't wait to show you tomorrow.

In any case, the plan was to fly all the way to Portland, Oregon from San Jose, California. And we did! We were successful! Yay!

A relative of J's (his name is Je) was supposed to pick us up from the airport and bring us to an empty apartment that another one of J's relatives in the area (her name is Mg) was connected to. Je also promised cheeseburgers, which was also pretty rad!

Disconcerting, though, was Je's apparent anxiety and inability to maintain a coherent flow of thought. This became more and more apparent the closer we got to Portland; despite me asking him several times to text me instead of call me (because we were in the flying plane, and that's so loud you can't hear anything else), he kept calling me to re-ask the same questions, primarily about what we wanted on our burgers. Which I had, by that point, already answered. Multiple times.

We did arrive at the airport. Je kept trying to call me, despite my asking him to wait until we finished tying down the plane. And then we had to find him; he had gone to the commercial passenger parking lot, which was different from our parking lot. Trying to explain to him that airports typically have more than one parking lot was an exercise in frustration. Trying to explain to him that we had some heavy bags and didn't know where he was parked was an exercise in frustration. Trying to get him to stay on topic was an exercise in frustration. Trying to get him to recognize the nearby airport tower (very distinctive; lots of flashing lights in specific colors) was impossible. Overwhelmed and angry at Je's nonsensical and incoherent responses, J handed the phone to me.

...I needed to make ample use of my toddler training to get Je to understand that he could find us by simply opening his Google Maps on his phone and typing in the address I gave him. And that was weird, because Google Maps was how he got to the airport in the first place, presumably.

...As it turned out, he was parked in the lot across the street from us. Looking at the exact same tower that he, for some reason, could not process or comprehend. He drove over. Opened his door. Stumbled trying to stand up from the seat of his car. And then I smelled the distinctive scent of beer on his breath, in between his slurred speech.

...The man was drunk off his ass. And driving like that.

...WHAT THE FUCK.

Immediately, I told him that I could smell alcohol on his breath and that we were absolutely not getting in his car. He threw up his hands; I don't know what that gesture means for him, but... I interpreted it as, “are you fucking serious? you're totally overreacting right now.”

I was immediately filled with rage at what looked to me like a dismissal of the seriousness of the situation. Drunk drivers crash into things and kill people. Drunk driving is a subset of irresponsible driving behaviors. Irresponsible driving behavior is what killed Daniel. His life was stolen away by someone who doesn't know how to pay attention or use his turn signal or slow down when turning into an intersection.

By that point in the night, I was hungry (because we hadn't eaten since the pho), dehydrated, and exhausted from the long flight and several consecutive sleepless nights. And the beast in me that I got from being raised in the environment I was raised in... it is asleep, not dead. And in that moment, Sephiroth, I wanted SO BADLY to knock him the rest of the way down on the fucking ground and kick him repeatedly between his legs while screaming at him about how loathsomely inconsiderate and dangerous his behavior is and about how people who do not take the responsibility of driving seriously are why Daniel is dead now.

...But that's not how we do. That's not who I wanna be. I may have come from that world, but I don't need to perpetuate that shit in the here and now. So instead, I walked away. I walked away, sat down against a wall, and took some deep breaths. J spoke to him for a while; apparently he was incoherent and kept wandering from disconnected thought to disconnected thought.

If I was thinking clearly, I would have remembered to take down his license plate and call the police to do a breath test on him. But I wasn't thinking clearly; I was mostly focused on keeping my adrenaline response in check. I understand, of course, that Je is likely self-medicating for psychological issues that he never got actual help for. But I'm still angry at his behavior, because it endangers other people.

I was so under the influence of adrenaline that I plain fucking forgot that one of our regular readers of these letters lives in this area. I could have called him for a ride to the hotel (because the apartment plan fell through for reasons I don't fully understand). But instead, J got an Uber. We were taken away from that parking lot and the drunken man. I fumed for a while.

We got settled at the hotel, though. And we got some snacks at the nearby 7-11 Mart (because the cheeseburgers that were promised to us also didn't work out; not that I'd have taken them from that drunk driver anyhow). It's not much, but... fed is best:

And now it's time to go to bed. I am beyond exhausted. I need to be not awake for more than 6 consecutive hours.

I'm having a hard time of it right now. But... I'm safe. J's safe. We're safe and we love you and also... I'm thinking about you, and I'm eager to show you today's pictures at some point tomorrow.

Please stay safe out there. Make good choices. Choices like refusing to get into the car of a drunk person, no matter how offended they get at you calling them out like the jackass they're being.

...Don't forget to call yourself out, too, when you need to. Other people being a jackass doesn't give us the right to be a jackass back; we can always choose to walk away.

I'll write again tomorrow. I love you.

Your friend, Lumine

[webdiggerxxx]

꧁★꧂

[salmonella-destroyer-of-worlds]

America’s funniest home videos 

[new-berry]

My plan: sit down since it’s raining and write nonsense like it’s my job.

My day: three hour drive to rescue someone and three hour drive back.

(If it was my job I would have half assed it. Better to write for fun. Tentatively? I think that glitter, something that let us remember started as one scene of nearly sexting and athletic sex is now 16,000 words).

[4pp4r3ntly4l1v3]

ok, why in the hell was my Sunday the craziest thing ever

so I went to a ren fest with a few friends, the 2 people who agreed to drive (I can’t drive and neither can the other person who went) drank all day, one blacked out and the other driver was swerving and shit, I had to get them to pull over at a gas station while my friend was having a panic attack, and we were stranded there for about 2 hours until my brother got us home, he’s a saint.

[awesome-casuallyfamouscollector]

P.S. At least two good things: alcoholics are removed from Latvian traffic and Ukrainians are given cheap cars to fight the Russian invasion...

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

'IS NO TIME FOR LIQUOR' 2 MUNITION WORKERS TOLD,” Toronto Star. April 1, 1942. Page 8. --- Police Found Herbert McKinnon and Cecil Kay Sound Asleep in Auto --- CAR WAS DITCHED ---- Special to The Star Whitby, April 1 - "This is no time for liquor," Magistrate F. S. Ebbs told two munitions workers who appeared before him on charges of drunk driving. Provincial police said both had been found in the same car, so intoxicated they could not be awakened, so they charged each man.

Herbert McKinnon pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven days. dating back to the time of his arrest. He was also assessed costs or an additional seven days, his car was ordered impounded for three months, and his license suspended for three months. Cecil Kay pleaded not guilty and was acquitted. Kay admitted having liquor illegally in a public place and being intoxicated. He was fined $10 and costs or 10 days.

Police stated they found the car "ditched" on the heavily travelled road to the plant, south of No. 2 highway. 

Warns All Others "I think a warning should be issued right now to these men and all others engaged in war work," said the magistrate. "These cases are becoming altogether too frequent. These are serious offences particularly in view of the fact that the road to the plant is very heavily travelled and there have been numerous accidents on it lately. 

"I believe this is one of the most heavily travelled strips of road in Canada. Some people seem to insist on using it while intoxicated; fortunately, not many are in the extreme state of intoxication these claimed men were in," the crown commented.

Provincial Constable James Sutherland said he and Provincial Traffic Officer Gilbert Robertson had been driving down the road early in the morning of March 25. "Half-way down to the railroad bridge we noticed a car in a five-foot ditch, facing slightly northwest," said witness. "The front of the car was almost buried in mud and when we stopped to investigate we found Kay lying behind the wheel in the front seat and McKinnon in the back. They were so intoxicated we couldn't wake them up and we finally had to carry them to the police car." The officer stated the McKinnon car was also in the ditch on the wrong side of the road.

"McKinnon said he had driven the car, got out to get a shovel and then knew no more. The left front door was so jammed we couldn't get it open."

Had Three Drinks Kay said he had never driven the car. He claimed that he and McKinnon had been "working double- shift and just came off work when a fellow asked us to have a drink with him. I had three drinks." He admitted having a bottle of liquor in the car and said it had been given him "by a man in the plant parking lot.”

McKinnon told the court he had driven several workers to Whitby and was on his way back when the car went into the ditch. "When we couldn't find the shovel there was nothing we could do but stay there till morning. I wasn't drunk when I was driving. It was when I lay down that the whiskey hit me," he claimed. "I drove the car all the time. It's my car," McKinnon asserted. 

"What were you doing in the back seat when Kay was in the front," Crown Attorney Allin Annis inquired. McKinnon said both had been riding in the front seat and that he had crawled over the back of it to search for the shovel.

“I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt, Kay. There's some doubt as to why you were behind the wheel, but I'm going to accept the evidence on this point and dismiss this charge against you," the court ruled.

"From now on we are going to have to deal with such cases far more severely. You don't look like the ordinary type of men who get into such difficulties. You are engaged in very important work requiring that you be in first-class physical condition."

Martin Hickey, munitions worker, pleaded not guilty on charges of wounding Corporal Robert Watson of the plant staff of guards, assaulting Corporal Watson, and assaulting Jack Johnston, caretaker of his bunkhouse.

Magistrate Ebbs convicted him of assaulting the constable and reserved his decision on the other two charges.

[mama-ships]

Hey, yall- last night was a doozie. I, my mom, my 2 year old daughter, and 2 of my younger siblings were hit by a drunk motorcyclist. He is ok. He got off with a few bumps and scrapes a dui and jail time. My family is all ok. but our van was totaled.

We live in a big city so that thing was a big percentage of our lively hood. We have another van, but it is out of commission at the moment, needing some repairs. We are currently not working, our boss was extremely abusive so we had to quit. We are supposed to start work again soon, but with no working vehicle, we obviously can't get to work. So I'd like to try to raise some money to get our only other vehicle fixed up. It has a lot wrong with it, but the breaks are the worst off. As well as replace my daughters and nephews' carseats.

My goal is around $1,020. For the breaks and the carseats. Or even just $320 for 2 carseats. I know that is definitely a lot to ask. But anything helps. I would just use my tax check for all of this, but it was unfortunately chosen to be frozen by the irs, so i have up to a 2 month wait for my money to be deposited. Please share this if anything else. Thank you.

buymeacoffee.com/mama.ships

[frank-o-meter]

[tocitynews]

Joseph Alcazar, 30, of Fontana, is a twice previously convicted drunk driver was found driving with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit ran over and killed 14-year-old Rosenda Elizabeth Smiley – Los Angeles California reporting

“A 14-year-old girl living the California dream enjoying a day of sun and sand at the beach with friends to kick off the beginning of summer is dead because of the selfish decision of a stranger,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “A repeat drunk driver not only took the life of a little girl, but he also endangered the life of his own daughter by getting behind the wheel after drinking and traumatized her and the other young girls who witnessed him hitting and killing a teenager.

The Devastated Dad Said His Daughter Knew What She Wanted For Her Future. She Knew Which Colleges She Wanted To Attend, What Year She Wanted To Travel And That She Wanted To Spend A Semester At Sea.

"She Was Precocious, Stubborn, Opinionated, Feisty," Fillmore Said Of Rosenda, "At The Same Time, Loving, Caring, Passionate, Compassionate Talented, Artistic."

Alcazar was charged with one felony count of murder, one felony count of driving under the influence of alcohol causing great bodily injury with two previous prior convictions, one felony count of driving under the influence of alcohol with a BAC of .08 or higher with two previous prior convictions, and one misdemeanor count of willful endangerment of a child.

The driver faces a maximum sentence of 15 years to life plus six years if convicted on all accounts.

[goat-yells-at-everything]

Not a huge update but, for now, police are saying they dont think it was targeted but intoxicants were involved. People have reported seeing the driver doing a field sobriety test on scene and failing. They then saw her in handcuffs.

Still not sure how you can drive THROUGH a building, in one side and out the other, and hit 10+ people (mostly small children) and there wasn't some kind of intent but I'm waiting for official reports.

Hey Nunya? Could you put out a call for prayers for my community? 4 kids were killed today when someone drove through an after school camp. Some are saying drunk driver. I'm not really sure considering the damage that was done. But, regardless, 4 families lost their babies today and its heartbreaking.

100% yes.

Y'all can see what's going on up there, pray to who you pray to, or send some good thoughts out into the universe, light a candle, or however it is you do this kind of thing.

Let's send out some comfort and trust that it will get to those who are hurting and help ease that hurt some.

[stopdrunkdriving]

The Why?

New Post has been published on https://www.drunkdriving.co.za/how-to-get-away-with-drunk-driving/

The Why?

This is an opinion piece (Persuasive/Argumentative) and not a Expository Article.

Well, I have never been a huge fan of drinking and honestly have never seen the point on wasting hundreds if not thousands of Rand’s in a single night on alcohol whilst I could be spending that money so much better on more exciting and better things, there are those who think drinking yourself till you “sober” again or passed out as the best feeling in the world! Ok, I might sound a little judgmental here, but why in the world would you wanna torture yourself so badly, with the headaches and humiliating yourself, not to mention the insane hangover the next day if you’re lucky not to end up in the ER whilst intoxicated or worse dead.

I have never been drunk before, don’t get me wrong I tried but stopped the moment the headaches got too much, I quickly learned that my body has a very small tolerance for alcohol, but then again I am definitely not someone that likes to torture themselves to fit into a crowd… I told a friend once I couldn’t get drunk coz of the headaches and she told me she also got headaches, so I asked her how did she get over it? Her plain and simple answer was I drank the headaches away. Wow, what a sad and desperate answer that is. I am not sure what her reason for drinking herself into a stupor was – was it maybe tryna fit in with the crowd, drink away the pain and suffering that she has experienced in her young life, losing the love of her life? Who knows?

Most older people can’t possibly fathom why young people would wanna drink their sorrows away, but there are still rare cases where young people have much bigger losses then you can imagine – the loss of a close family member such as a mother or father, the loss of a very close best friend (yes, young people are capable of loving someone deeply), I for one am someone who has lost more than a young person should ever have to experience in life. It’s hard and sometimes I still wanna stick my head in the sand like an ostrich and hope all my bad experiences and pain in life would just disappear. Alcohol and drugs to most people sounds like a great choice to turn to especially if you’re in bad company! But at the end of the day, you wake up with a severe hangover, have no clue what happened the previous day, your problems and pain are still with you and you end up just reaching for another bottle of alcohol to try get the pain to stop! Alcohol and drugs is not the answer or solution to life’s problems, in fact it is the opposite causing more problems and havoc in your life even if you don’t remember it!

Drinking to impress friends is insane! Have you ever thought that the friends encouraging you to drink with them have such a low self-esteem that they need someone to drink with them so they don’t have to feel lonely! Everybody is running away from something! Financial problems, work issues, personal problems, family drama etc. There is really nobody in this world that doesn’t have at least one skeleton in their closet haunting them! The problem is some can handle these skeletons better than others! So, your so called “friends” feed on your insecurity and convince you to have just one drink, well that’s where it starts… Once that drink is done they convince you to have a second and a third and before you know it you have drunk well over your own limitation.

The problem is not that you are drunk but that you have no clue of how to get home, because anybody you would trust getting you home is either drunk, asleep or your way to intoxicated and embarrassed to try talk to them! So, your only 2 options are sleep it off in your car (if you can) or take the stupid risk of driving home. If you’re lucky you might manage to get home safely, your first time is always the hardest and scariest! As you do it more often your confidence/arrogance grows and you become cockier the more you DRINK AND DRIVE, it becomes sort of like a funny and daring game. Trust me one day is one day, you’ll take it just a little bit too far… one day you might just slightly be off your a-game, you let your mind wonder, your more tired then you thought, you pass out behind the wheel – you lose control of your vehicle, your gauge is a little off and you ever so slightly steer to the wrong side or your foot becomes a little too heavy and you start accelerating… BANG!!!

Hopefully you crashed into a wall, a fence or even a tree only injuring or killing yourself. If you’re not so lucky… You have just taken someone’s only means of transport and ways of providing for their family, you killed, paralyzed or severely mauled a law abiding citizen – leaving them with months of recovery time or deep mourning. Drinking and driving has become somewhat of an unspoken SPORT in South Africans culture today! The exhilaration of not been caught whilst committing a CRIME has become too tempting for a lot of people young and old these days.

Next time you are tempted to go party at a club, bar or friends house think twice about how your gonna get home… Make sure you have a sober driver to get you home even if you only plan on having 1 or 2 drinks – 90% of the time it is not only 1 or 2 drinks but 6 -10 or more drinks, keep money aside and call an Uber or give your keys to the bartender and give him/her instructions to call you a cab or emergency contact when you have had a unlimited amount of drinks. For PETE sakes – put your PRIDE in your pocket – CALL YOUR MOM!

Be a REPSONSIBLE drinker – NO ONE SHOULD PAY FOR YOUR DRINKING PROBLEM!

[irlplasticlamb]

why have gods forsaken me?

prints + merch + commission info pinned to profile :)

[castratedtestimonies]

This is extremely typical of the Drunk Driver Mindset.

I know this is a new concept for people, so I want to take it slow.

56% of American men, and 43% of American women have driven drunk in their lifetime. I'm reblogging from an Australian, so I will also add: 14% of Australians have driven drunk just in the last six months.

Okay, who gives a fuck?

Well, the thing is, it kills people. It kills people very regularly. Drunk driving is so dangerous that it's fair to say that anyone who chooses to drive drunk knowingly risks killing people every time they do it. On average, when an American is arrested for driving drunk, they are on their 80th offense, only being caught for the first time now.

So what's the mindset issue?

Entitlement.

Entitlement is the notion that what other people do that's wrong is okay for you to do because you're special. Entitlement is less an ideology and more a habit of mind. I used to be a counselor for men who committed domestic violence. I saw this all the time: They would be able to recognize abuse and violence in other people's relationship, but make exceptions for themselves and their behaviors. They might be ashamed, but they will never admit wrong.

But it doesn't just go away, those feelings of shame. They tend to fester. They find new outlets.

The drunk driver, having knowingly risked killing others countless times begins to devalue human life itself, and feel entitled to decide which lives are important.

Enter immigration.

Illegal immigration is about as dangerous a crime as a clerical error. You might think that immigrants are the cause of lots of other social ills, mass rapes, violent drug dealers, human trafficking (or whatever the latest fad story being pushed out by nationalists). And you might even be right.

But the crime of crossing a border is a paperwork mistake. A clerical error. A non-issue as far as the health and safety of the public is concerned

So why is it that such a minor crime yields the ire and fear of such a large portion of the population?

Well, of course there's racism, and ignorance, and the idea that somehow rape and murder are worse when it's a non-national doing it, and that it's somehow, absurdly, more logical to group crimes together by the race of their perpetrators--rather than by, Oh I don't know, the crime itself. But that's boring and not actually that important.

Drunk drivers would kill children for dressing in bunny costumes if it eased their consciences.

Drunk Driver Mindset dictates that, in order to recuperate the health and safety that the drunk driver knowingly compromises in their own society, there must be someone even more dangerous. Alcoholics are notorious for blaming their issues on others, and for having obsessions around control where they cannot control things, and freedom where no one is holding them back. This drama basically ensues from the inability to get a grip on their drinking. The drunk driver compounds these obsessions because they know they use their freedom to endanger others. They know that they cannot stop themselves without a help that, were it to come, they would slap away as unjust control.

The drunk driver is the reason we can't have nice things.

The Drunk Driver Mindset is what drives our culture to be filled with murder fantasies whenever our culture collectively finds a target for their rage and their obsessions.

If you really do care about health and safety, get help with your drinking. If you really do care about health and safety, accept the reality that drunk drivers are a greater danger to society than immigrants or single mothers or trans kids or whatever other target you'd like to feel entitled to attack.

Take a deep breath.

Look at the numbers. Understand that drunk driving is the greater danger.

Or else please do shut the fuck up.

[heavenbarnes]

craving drunk simon. like at the bar with the rest of the team an hes glued to readers hip, showering her in compliments. all lovey n shit idk maybe im jus crazy💗

oh the concept of it really bringing older bf!simon out of his shell- too lush to even THINK about.

he’s perched on a stool and you’re stood between his legs, arms wrapped around you and his face buried in your neck. undoubtedly he’s whispering the craziest stuff.

“mmm, can’t wait t’get y’home”

“maybe y’can just rub on it a little? nobody’s watching”

except everybody is watching, johnny’s hazy eyes are watching you both from across the table and you’re not sure who’s more hot and bothered- him or simon.

or if you’re at the pool table and price is trying to teach you how to play but every time you bend over to shoot, you’ve got gaz practically barking.

and that’s not even to mention the fact simon presses into you from behind as you try to line up.

it’s all silly and heated and you don’t mind a minute of it (so what if attention feels nice?) because it means simon is unequivocally himself.

he’s got his hands all over you, pulling you into his chest, and running off at the mouth.

“y’so fuckin’ beautiful, make me the luckiest man alive”

“all these gits wanna’ take y’home? but it’s this stupid git that’s doin’ it”

when you get him out in the night air to begin the trek home, you know it’s the drink talking but you KNOW it’s actually him talking.

“might fuck around n’marry you, yeah?”

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"GIVEN FREEDOM," Hamilton Spectator. December 5, 1933. Page 15. --- Robert Barclay Not Guilty, Court Decides ---- "It's just so close that I'll have to give him the benefit of the doubt," declared Magistrate Vance in county police court this morning, in freeing Robert Barclay, Beach boulevard, of a drunken driving charge laid against him by Traffic Officer Ed Jess, as the result of a minor accident on the sand strip just north of the Windermere cut-off junction, on November 25.

The accused mán admitted having a drink or so of wine, but denied being drunk. His car, a comparatively ancient vehicle, collided with another car in charge of Delmar Collins, of Freeman. H. O. E. Braden, who acted on behalf of the accused, gleaned for the court's in- formation that Barclay had been having some trouble with his ignition and firing, and was sick from the effects of the gas fumes.

In acquitting Barclay, the magistrate told Officer Jess that he should have taken the accused to a doctor or to the hospital after the arrest and had him examined, in- stead of whisking him away to the police station. It was lack of medical evidence that decided his worship.