Don't Drink and Drive

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Info in www.texasdwi.org. Early on Sunday morning, September 18, 1999, Jacqueline Saburido, 20, and four friends were on their way home from a birthday party. Reggie Stephey, an 18-year-old star football player, was on his way home from drinking beer with some buddies. On a dark road on the outskirts of Austin, Texas, Reggie’s SUV veered into the Oldsmobile carrying Jacqui and the others. Two passengers in the car were killed at the scene and two were rescued. Within minutes, the car caught fire. Jacqui was pinned in the front seat on the passenger side. She was burned over 60% of her body; no one thought she could survive. But Jacqui lived. Her hands were so badly burned that her fingers had to be amputated. She lost her hair, her ears, her nose, her left eyelid and much of her vision. She has had more than 50 operations since the crash and has many more to go. In June 2001 Reggie Stephey was convicted of two counts of intoxication manslaughter for the deaths of Jacqui’s two friends. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined $20,000. Drunk driving is a violent crime—and in the United States, drunk driving crimes occur more often than any other crime. Every five hours in Texas, someone is killed in an alcohol-related traffic crash. Texas is among the national leaders when it comes to traffic deaths that involve alcohol. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2004 in Texas, 1,642 motorists were killed in alcohol-related crashes—second to California by only a single death. Experts estimate that 70 Texans are injured or killed in alcohol-related crashes every day. The Department of Public Safety reports that of the 98,349 drunk driving arrests made in Texas in 2004, 303 young people between nine and sixteen years old were arrested for drinking and driving. An additional 9,285 minors between ages 17 and 20 were arrested for driving under the influence. That means more than 11 percent of all the people arrested for drinking and driving were under 21—the legal age for alcohol in Texas. Safety experts say that one in every five Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives. Don’t let it be you. Don’t drink and drive. Please respond