Letter On Drinking And Driving

People die every day. Most of them die because they drive while under the influence of alcohol. My response and interpretation after reading Corporal Dale Martels letter “Drinking and driving continues to claim the lives of innocent victims in North America that was published in Golden Sun in Golden” creates an understanding of what drinking and driving at the same time could do to the lives of many people. This letter is written from Martels personal experience and tells how a tragic experience of a police witnessing what happens if you drive while drunk or high can have a negative effect on many. He also shares how hard it is for him to face parents in the middle of the night and say their daughter or son has just been killed in an accident

One reaction I have is I expected minors/teenagers to think of driving while under the influence of alcohol is okay, that nothing serious will happen. They forget because of the alcohol messing up with their brain. I am shock of how minors forget how dangerous driving is while drunk. Even though they have been taught about it in driving class and see or hear it from the news. Also I am shocked by how parents would blame and harass the police officer who was just trying to prevent such tragedy like the one he had witnessed, just because they are unconcerned about minors and alcohol abuse. There are tons of details that stand out for me. But one that stands out the most is when the police officer is explaining why the incident happened and he said “it happened because an adult, trying to be a ‘good guy’ bought for or sold to some minors a case of beer.” (page3 paragraph3) This stands out for me the most because it is true. Adults do not want to be a bad guy and would rather take the risk of them getting into a car accident rather than being safe. They forget how dangerous it is until it is too late for them to prevent it from

One example of him being a soft hearted is when he watched the dead and the injured being removed. It said “hot tears mingled with rain and dripped off my cheeks.” (page3 paragraph2) This shows that he cares of what happens to kids, especially teenagers who are under the influence of alcohol. He is dedicated of helping and stopping minors drive while drunk, so they would be safe and would be able to see another morning. I think Martel feels that his responsible for the lives of people who were killed in a car accident, because they were under the influence of alcohol. An example of this is when he saw the boy he felt a pang of guilt and recognized the boy that he let off a warning the other night for an open container of alcohol in his car. He said “Maybe if I cited him then, he would still be alive now. Who knows? I don’t” (page2 paragraph4) He wonders if he had seen him, maybe he could prevent such tragedy. Maybe he would still be alive. Martels surprised me when he says that he is angry and frustrated. Because I thought police would be saying that kids are stupid for driving while drunk. But not Martel, he is mad and frustrated he could not prevent them from dying and that parents and leaders who believe a bit of alcohol would not hurt