It was around 8:05 pm on April 20, 2008, when 17-year-old Mathew Bray was struck and killed by someone driving drunk as he rode his bike home from a friend’s house.
“Mathew was a special kid. He would bend over backwards to do anything for anybody,” his mother Mary said of her son.
And though almost three years have passed since the tragedy, my thoughts and prayers still go out to his family and friends – as I’m sure such a loss is not easily forgotten.
Regardless of how many innocent people die every year, Americans continue their abuse of alcohol – many times for its impairing nature, which allows one to temporarily forget their own reality. But what happens when that denial of self collides with the innocence of others?
Data from a recent survey released from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that one in ten drivers reported driving even though they thought their alcohol level might be close to or even above the legal limit. And just over half of those polled said they’ve done this more than once over the last 12 months.
With all due respect…WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?!?! If you yourself aren’t coherent enough to make logical decisions, one would hope friends and even strangers would prevent you from getting behind the wheel of a car in an inebriated state. But after reading the statistics above, that doesn’t seem to be the case. It’s getting to the point where driving on our roadways is becoming a frightening proposition, especially when you never know the condition of other drivers around you.
If you’re one of those people who sometimes drinks a little more than they should, take this moment of sobriety to remember that young Mathew, and thousands of others, could just as easily have been a member of your very own family.