Drunk drivers

[FictionalGirl]

So, tonight, I'm driving home from writing at the local coffee shop and I'm sitting behind a truck at a red light, and these guys just ram right into the back of my car, at 40mph, no slowing, didn't even notice everyone had stopped, and they're dead drunk! I have serious whiplash, but i stopped, got out of the car, and then they backed up quickly, i motioned to them to stop. it was fine, just stay where they were, but they veered to the right, started driving forward and RAN OFF hooting, seriously, just yelling out the windows, a bunch of 20something blonde college guys!!! Usually there are cops right next to where this happened, but because school is on break they were gone. Here's the kicker, 40 witnesses and the guys didn't have a license plate. By the time thecops got there they wouldn't even go in the direction the guys went, even though an onlooker tried to run after them and said they went into a parking garage and didn't emerge!!!!!!! My bumper fell off. My head hurts. My insurance premium is too high as it is.
And I needed a little SDN lovin'. *sigh* I'm gonna go back to icing my neck with a frozen package of brussel sprouts......

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[nekrogg]

its not your fault, your insurance bills will not go up. if they ever catch the person chances are they will be facing jail time for a hit and run, or a fatty fine. but yea in cases like these insurances more than compensate for your repairs and costs of renting a car.. dont worry, dont think about the bad stuff, just relax and think about something pleasant, and deal with it all later

 

[UCLA2000]

By the time thecops got there they wouldn't even go in the direction the guys went, even though an onlooker tried to run after them and said they went into a parking garage and didn't emerge!!!!!!!

OMG! Which garage! Send people over to look for the car! You might get lucky and find it there. Or, they might have camera surveillance in there.

 

[isobel]

its not your fault, your insurance bills will not go up. if they ever catch the person chances are they will be facing jail time for a hit and run, or a fatty fine. but yea in cases like these insurances more than compensate for your repairs and costs of renting a car.. dont worry, dont think about the bad stuff, just relax and think about something pleasant, and deal with it all later

well, not totally true. depending on the company, if you have a certain number of claims in a certain period of time, your rate will go up. whether or not the incidents were your fault. but you'd have to be pretty unlucky to have a bunch of accidents where you were totally innocent.

 

[volans]

aww, you poor thing. that is absolutely terrible - and they didn't have a license plate? i'm betting sooner or later they'll be pulled over for that, and a record of your complaint will be on file already with the police. hopefully you still remember the make/model/color of the car. i wouldn't give up hope on them being caught, but at the same time, just breathe in and be thankful it wasn't worse. it really bothers me when stuff like this happens - but don't worry, you've got pals at sdn

 

[Gavanshir]

ANOTHER fictional story from the fictional girl

 

[byeh2004]

So, tonight, I'm driving home from writing at the local coffee shop and I'm sitting behind a truck at a red light, and these guys just ram right into the back of my car, at 40mph, no slowing, didn't even notice everyone had stopped, and they're dead drunk! I have serious whiplash, but i stopped, got out of the car, and then they backed up quickly, i motioned to them to stop. it was fine, just stay where they were, but they veered to the right, started driving forward and RAN OFF hooting, seriously, just yelling out the windows, a bunch of 20something blonde college guys!!! Usually there are cops right next to where this happened, but because school is on break they were gone. Here's the kicker, 40 witnesses and the guys didn't have a license plate. By the time thecops got there they wouldn't even go in the direction the guys went, even though an onlooker tried to run after them and said they went into a parking garage and didn't emerge!!!!!!! My bumper fell off. My head hurts. My insurance premium is too high as it is.
And I needed a little SDN lovin'. *sigh* I'm gonna go back to icing my neck with a frozen package of brussel sprouts......

well... at least one thing you can say is that theyre not going to med school...

cheer up mang... its good that you didnt lose your life

 

[FutureDocDO]

I would start jotting down anything you could remember about the car and those in it, especially the driver before it slips away.

 

[jackets5]

hey im with you. I personally, feel our laws against drunk driving are far to soft. First offense for DWI or DUI should be mandatory jail time and revocation of all driving privledges for a year after release. Second offense should be mandatory prision time with revocation for life of driving privledges. Third offense should be something along the lines of 15-life in prision. Driving drunk shows total disregard for all of society.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

hey im with you. I personally, feel our laws against drunk driving are far to soft. First offense for DWI or DUI should be mandatory jail time and revocation of all driving privledges for a year after release. Second offense should be mandatory prision time with revocation for life of driving privledges. Third offense should be something along the lines of 15-life in prision. Driving drunk shows total disregard for all of society.

I think that the current laws are good and they are pretty strict as it is. Most states, if not all, revoke driving privileges for a year for the first offense. Pretty lame if you got a DUI after being pulled over after having one beer!

The campaign against drunk drivers strangely does not also target those who drive after having very little sleep. I'm sure you've heard of the statistic that going 24 hours without sleep is like having a BAC of .1% or something like that! I wonder if there would be such a call for anti "tired driver" laws if more statistics were available about fatalities caused by these drivers as well.

 

[Jon Davis]

So, tonight, I'm driving home from writing at the local coffee shop and I'm sitting behind a truck at a red light, and these guys just ram right into the back of my car, at 40mph, no slowing, didn't even notice everyone had stopped, and they're dead drunk! I have serious whiplash, but i stopped, got out of the car, and then they backed up quickly, i motioned to them to stop. it was fine, just stay where they were, but they veered to the right, started driving forward and RAN OFF hooting, seriously, just yelling out the windows, a bunch of 20something blonde college guys!!! Usually there are cops right next to where this happened, but because school is on break they were gone. Here's the kicker, 40 witnesses and the guys didn't have a license plate. By the time thecops got there they wouldn't even go in the direction the guys went, even though an onlooker tried to run after them and said they went into a parking garage and didn't emerge!!!!!!! My bumper fell off. My head hurts. My insurance premium is too high as it is.
And I needed a little SDN lovin'. *sigh* I'm gonna go back to icing my neck with a frozen package of brussel sprouts......

That sucks. Your insurance is probably no-fault as well. Which means even if they did catch the guys, your premiums go up. If I were you, fix it on your own and don't report it to the insurance company. Then get a bunch of your guy friends to beat the **** of these punks.

 

[tacrum43]

I'm sorry that a bunch of drunk idiots smashed your car and then ran off, but at least you're not seriously hurt and you do have insurance. It could have been a lot worse. It's scary to think that there's people out there who do that on a regular basis.

 

[DarkFark]

I think that the current laws are good and they are pretty strict as it is. Most states, if not all, revoke driving privileges for a year for the first offense. Pretty lame if you got a DUI after being pulled over after having one beer!

The campaign against drunk drivers strangely does not also target those who drive after having very little sleep. I'm sure you've heard of the statistic that going 24 hours without sleep is like having a BAC of .1% or something like that! I wonder if there would be such a call for anti "tired driver" laws if more statistics were available about fatalities caused by these drivers as well.

Trying to stop people from driving tired is sensible, but to me it sounds utterly unenforceable- how do you measure illegal levels of fatigue in a way that a half-decent lawyer couldn't create reasonable doubt? There is no breathalyzer for sleep.

 

[indo]

Were they waving a dildo out of the window? If they were I would like to apologize for hitting your car and running off. We were in a hurry because sex and the city was about to come on TBS and I hadn't set up my tivo to record it. Oops.

 

[Will Ferrell]

Were they waving a dildo out of the window? If they were I would like to apologize for hitting your car and running off. We were in a hurry because sex and the city was about to come on TBS and I hadn't set up my tivo to record it. Oops.

 

[potato51]

Wow, sorry this happened to you. But most importantly we're glad you're safe.

A similar incident happened to me this time last year. Was at a red light when an unlicensed, uninsured 16-year old smashed into the back of my car, ironically right in front of two places called Collision Clinic and Just Brakes... which were closed. Got treated by a nurse practitioner in the ER who prescribed me Vicodin which got me through the holidays

Hope you aren't injured too badly. It can get worse after the first day, sad to say. Take care...

 

[Jon Davis]

Were they waving a dildo out of the window? If they were I would like to apologize for hitting your car and running off. We were in a hurry because sex and the city was about to come on TBS and I hadn't set up my tivo to record it. Oops.

Original, I like.

 

[Dr Alo]

I have a lot of drunk driving stories on my blog and you can view them under Chicago Trauma Surgery.
http://www.thealo.com/maloblog/index.asp?ci=7&s=category

 

[SirTony76]

You know what Germany's drunk driving laws are?

Did you know Germany doesn't have a problem with drunk drivers?

 

[duke05]

You know what Germany's drunk driving laws are?

Did you know Germany doesn't have a problem with drunk drivers?

usually these types of questions are followed up with answers to the said questions.

 

[isobel]

I think that the current laws are good and they are pretty strict as it is. Most states, if not all, revoke driving privileges for a year for the first offense. Pretty lame if you got a DUI after being pulled over after having one beer!

um... revoking licenses does not stop people from driving. that's the problem. in the last year, i remember a case in ME and one in MA where some guys had been caught DUI like 10+ times or something and had practically permanently suspended licenses. kept driving anyway and each killed someone in an accident.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

um... revoking licenses does not stop people from driving. that's the problem. in the last year, i remember a case in ME and one in MA where some guys had been caught DUI like 10+ times or something and had practically permanently suspended licenses. kept driving anyway and each killed someone in an accident.

Great point, so I guess you would advocate locking up for life anyone who drunk drives, since these people will probably do it again? There is no way to prevent irresponsible behavior, you can attempt to control it, but then what freedoms are we willing to give up? Having to blow in a breathelyzer every time we turn on the ignition? Banning the ownership of guns? Installing controls in cars that limit the speed at which they go? The list could go on and on, unfortunately a few bad apples can ruin the earned responsibility that should be kept in the hands of a sane majority.

 

[isobel]

Great point, so I guess you would advocate locking up for life anyone who drunk drives, since these people will probably do it again? There is no way to prevent irresponsible behavior, you can attempt to control it, but then what freedoms are we willing to give up? Having to blow in a breathelyzer every time we turn on the ignition? Banning the ownership of guns? Installing controls in cars that limit the speed at which they go? The list could go on and on, unfortunately a few bad apples can ruin the earned responsibility that should be kept in the hands of a sane majority.

riiiight.... because merely pointing out that revoking licenses does nothing apparently makes me some sort of crazy fascist who wants to lock people up...

but you did get me on wishing guns were banned. guns and crazy wiretapping presidents...

 

[Thundrstorm]

Sorry this happened to you. Drunk driving is completely inexcusable, and what's unfortunate is that these idiots will probably continue to do it, and could very likely cause even more damage (like killing someone) the next time.