| Show Drinking and driving driving- playing a deadly bf chance Rosana Wilkey Staff Writer N the g game am e 0 of f R Russian u s i a n IN roulette a gun loaded with only one bullet is passed around and all of 01 the participants participants participants par par- pull the trigger and take a chance with th their their lives i. i Reports of a few local casualties casualties casualties casual- casual ties resulting from this game would J likely kely send a Shockwave throughout our community and incite outrage and grave concern at at the senseless tragedy There is another game of chance involving life and death being casually played on our streets on a regular basis In Inthis Inthis l' l this game one of the players takes a mind ind altering substance j usually alcohol or or illegal i drugs and then attempts attempts' to operate an automobile on I public roads The obvious difference between be be- f 1 I tween these two games is that while R Russian roulette c players ayers risk their own lives Ues those who drink and drive impose the risks on unwilling ill unwilling rr ing participants people who 1 f would never consider gam- gam gambling l I f bling with their safety s i On May 29 1989 as s sye we ye wi wiped ped 0 off ff the last las t 0 of f oil oilY Memorial Day picnic from QUI our childrens children's sticky faces som somewhere where in the Salt Lake Lak valley a a. a stranger strang r. r made mad a decision that would permanently permanently per per- impact our ou lives That evening at 1122 pm p.m. my husband and I found ourselves ourselves ourselves our our- selves on oh the path of an intoxicated intoxicated intoxicated driver Time seemed to st stand nd still as we anticipated the impact It was long enough for us to realize realize realize real real- ize that we were fad facing ng our probable death and yet there was no t time me to even close our eyes As a result of the crash I was disabled for 62 days suffering head trauma and a back in in- jury Some of my injuries uries were permanent Our car was totaled and since the drunk driver was uninsured we were forced to battle our insurance company to get a fair settlement Meanwhile my husband had to take time off from work each day to drive me to physical therapy As it turned out the driver who hit us us' was a repeat of of- fender having had three prior DUI convictions one convictions one of which involved injuries His blood alcohol level at the time of the crash was ov over r three times the legal limit Before we had a chance to heal physically emotionally and financially II our our drunk driver was caught driving drunk discovery happened happened happened hap hap- quite by accident as we checked on the progress of the case The news hews was devastating ng to us as we realized that we could not prevent nt this man manfrom manfrom manfrom from hurting another fa family ily ilyin in the same way he hurt ours We checked on the case from time to to- time as the accused accused ac ac- ac- ac was granted one ne postponement after another Eight months later at the sentence hearing nearing the District Attorney cautioned us that due to overcrowding at the Salt Lake County jail the alleged drunk driver was not likely to receive rec lve a jail term After five drunk unk driving convictions conviction the man was finally sentenced to jail for three mon months |
