She Drinks And Drives

[Si Hunt]

I sit next to a girl at work, she's about 23, bubbly, a bit chavish. She's a nice girl, but she's a bit immature and lives for the moment. We're always hearing about her mishaps breaking down, being late and so on, but there's one thing she's taken to doing that seriously annoys me. She drinks and drives.

She thinks its a huge joke, and that's partly the problem. It's funny for her, telling us all about her daring endevours and the more we get het up about it (me and the others sitting in our office) the more I think she loves to tell us. Last night she drank two double-vodkas and then drove home from the pub. To make it worse, she got stopped for speeding but got let off, astoundingly without being breathalised, because she knew the policeman from schooldays.

I'm amazed that in this day and age young people can be so mis-informed, but she's full of it. "I wasn't drunk", "It was a straight road", "There was no-one about". We try and tell her how stupid it is, but she just doesn't listen, she just laughs.

What, if anything, can I do to convince her how dangerous it is?

Si.

[Wayne]

What, if anything, can I do to convince her how dangerous it is?

Si.

Make up a story about how a family member was killed by someone who thought they were fine, & not had that much. Tell her that the whole thing makes you sick, & she should be ashamed of herself.

[Si Hunt]

I think she knows that it's not really funny, as we've all gone a bit quiet on her. I can't really make up the family story now, or she'd know that I would have mentioned it earlier.

Si.

[Wayne]

or she'd know that I would have mentioned it earlier.

Si.

True. I was just thinking what i might've done i suppose. You could take her to one side, & tell her in a serious tone about a mate of yours who lost a family member, & you've seen the pain & grief it caused?
I suppose anything like that depends on how long/ well you've known her & how much/often you talk with each other.

[Raston]

Download a photo of a car accident and leave it on her desk with a note saying that one day it could be her.

[Ralph]

I'm astonished really that this girl flaunts the fact that she does this. Are you sure it's not a wind-up? If so a stupid one at that. I think there is a real feeling of stigma attached to drink driving. If she really doesn't seem to give a damn about the risk she runs for other people, I think thats really quite offensive. If this police officer friend really did stop her for speeding he would have detected the alcohol on her breath so he should be dealt with harshly for criminal neglect. Two double vodkas possibly on an empty stomach is bad enough but to advertise the fact? This has got to be a wind up on her part.

[Si Hunt]

Sadly, I doubt it, although it's possible she's exageratting to make herself look "good" (!). I don't think vodka on her breath would smell would it? Anyway I told her if I had the name of the policeman I'd report him.

The problem is, she just doesn't seem to take it seriously. It's all a big joke, and I don't think she realises there's any real risk. She just thinks it's stuff that happens to other people.

Si.

[Trudi G]

"I wasn't drunk", "It was a straight road", "There was no-one about".
Si.

Sounds just like my ex. He regularly speeds, drinks and drives chats and texts on his mobile while driving. He's been banned twice for speeding and you think that would have taught him a lesson, and he has to have a car for his job, but no - he thinks he's the safest person on the road....

[Jon Masters]

Wait til you know she's driving under the influence then give the police a ring.

No sympathy. No mercy.

[Si Hunt]

You sound like the Terminator, Jon.

Si.

[Nathan]

he thinks he's the safest person on the road...

And that is why people do it. They know the risk that drunk people take whilst driving, but they aren't drunk, they are well in control of their faculties...

It is sometimes hard to get past this mentality. I'd have thought a close brush with the law may have possibly made her think twice... but maybe not.

[Rob McCow]

When you're on the road, you're always at the risk of an accident, whether it's your fault or not. Even if you've had a small amount of alcohol and you get involved in a big car smash up, the courts will look on it as your fault. Plus there's the guilt - if you run over someone after drinking, you'll never know that if you hadn't had that drink, they would have been OK.

That's why I avoid mixing the ethanol and the metal altogether

[michael]

show her some video like this at brek time

dont drink

[Brian]

Put her on a bicycle on a busy road on New Years or St Patricks Day.

[Captain Tancredi]

The only people I know who drink and drive are people who've been driving for thirty or forty years and will drive home on one pint of ordinary strength beer or a glass of wine after a meal out. Not ideal, I know, but this is a semi-rural area and many people's social lives still depend on the village pub.

I can't get inside the head of somebody who would consciously drink a large amount and then drive, though, and I'd wonder whether any reasoned argument is going to get through to somebody like that.

[Pip Madeley]

Download a photo of a car accident and leave it on her desk with a note saying that one day it could be her.

Great idea, that.

It's no joke, she's putting others in danger as well as herself.

[Si Hunt]

It transpires that her boyfriend drives around with no tax or insurance as well.

Si.

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

It just gets worse doesn't it?

It does seem to me that people with attitudes like this just don't seem to live in the real world. I suspect that both she and her boyfriend will continue doing this until one of them has a smash or an accident.
As has already been said on this thread - to them car crashes are things that happen to other people.

I don't excuse the older members of society in anyway, the law has gradually been made tougher over the years and some of them remember the days when drinking and driving was almost the norm. I'm sure most have adjusted to today's laws but there will always be a few stubborn old mules that won't change their ways. I'm not defending this it's just a fact that I've come across over the years.
However, the young have no excuse. The law has been tough on drink driving for many years now. These people are just choosing to ignore it - which could cost them (and others) their lives.

I agree with earlier comments I would show her no sympathy and would point out that you don't want to hear her pathetic boasts about drink driving. I would tell her that I think it's disgusting.

Well, that's my rant over!

[Jeff]

I'd report her boasts to a manager and mention that yourself and other co-workers do not appreciate having to listen to it.

It sounds to me like she is doing half the bragging just for the shocked reaction, so reporting her would at least shut her up and ruin that satisfaction for her.

[Larry]

the problem is we are to bloody soft in this country with our laws people drink and drive because they know damn well that the punishments handed out are just a joke. How many times have we read in the papers about some one who is way over the drink limit speeding in a 30mph area mounts a pavements and kills some kids or a mother pushing a pram and gets given community service or 2 years max in prison.

it' makes my blood boil and I think it's long over due that the government changed the laws so that the severest punishments are handed out to people who drink and drive.

I honestly believe that if you drink and drive you should get 5 years in prison minimum.

But if you drink and drive and kill some one by speeding and then mounting a pavement and knocking them down then you should be charged with murder and receive at least a minimum of 15 years in prison.

[Pip Madeley]

Leave a horse's head on her chair when she goes out for lunch, with a note on it that says "I WAS KILLED BY DRUNKEN DRIVING".

[Ralph]

I honestly believe that if you drink and drive you should get 5 years in prison minimum.

I think this depends...if you are breathalised (? don't have my dictionary handy) in the morning after a night out then many decent folk could be on the boundary line. I don't think they should get 5 years for that.

[Pip Madeley]

breathylised

Is that a technical term?

[Ralph]

Leave a horse's head on her chair when she goes out for lunch, with a note on it that says "I WAS KILLED BY DRUNKEN DRIVING".

The animal liberation front have added Pip's name to their list...

[Ralph]

Is that a technical term?

er yeah