Don't Drink and Drive

Last night I heard a story from a friend of mine. It made me really sad for her. I hadn't seen her in months and I saw her last night. It looked like she had a smudge of something on her eye, so I asked her what happened. I was truly thinking that it was eye make up messed up or maybe a scratch. Nothing serious. I was wrong. She told me that she got in a car accident. In April. I asked her to tell me about it. This is her story.

I don't know if she'd want me to tell everyone her story so I'm going to call her "Jane".

Jane told me that she had been out with some friends at a bar. They were all drinking. It got pretty late and they decided to go to a friends house and continue the party. Everyone was drunk. So they decided to get a cab. Smart people. But then another girl in their group (a girl Jane didn't know very well) told everyone that she had a big car and she was sober enough to drive them home. She only lived about a mile away and they could continue the party there. So Jane and her friends got out of the cab (yes they were already getting into the cab) and got into the other girl's car. The girl stopped at a gas station so they could grab more beer for the party at her house. When they were almost to the house a guy in the backseat noticed they were going very fast. About 50 mph in a 30 mph zone. He yelled to her from the back seat to slow down. The girl driving laughed and sped up. Unfortunately then the road curved. The car did not. They hit a tree, dead on, going about 55-60 mph. Jane wasn't wearing her seat belt. She was knocked unconscious. So was another girl in the car. A few people got out of the car and stood on the sidewalk. The girl driving backed the car up and drove home still. I guess the car was drivable.

Jane woke up in the girl's driveway with her eye bleeding. The other friends had come back to the house and called 9-1-1. An ambulance was there but Jane didn't get in because she didn't have any insurance. She called a cab. A cab took her to the hospital. When she got there she found out the cut on her eye was worse than she thought. They had to do a skin graft and take skin from her shoulder to help replace part of her eyelid. Luckily her injury was the worst of the whole accident so everyone did walk away from it.

Jane didn't have insurance and the whole procedure cost about $13,000.

Was it worth it? They already had a cab. She ended up having to pay for a cab anyway later. If she just stayed in the cab from the beginning, she would've been fine. It's a tough lesson to swallow.

I'm so thankful that my friend is ok. I think she learned a lot from it too which is important. But not everyone gets to learn like that. Some people get in car accidents and don't walk away. Can't walk away.

Don't put yourself in that position. I know I'm sounding very preacher-esque right now, but I'm serious. Please don't drink and drive. I don't think I could ever bear to get a phone call from anyone's parents/relatives/friends telling me that I lost someone due to drinking and driving. It's not worth it. Call a cab.