I'm going to be smart; I won't drive while buzzed.
Even just one too many drinks can impair my driving and lead to devastating consequences. It's just not worth it. Buzzed driving is drunk driving so I'm going to make sure I make responsible choices that don't endanger myself and others.
I was out with some girlfriends and we went out to dinner. I had a few drinks and on the way home from driving my friend to her car I got pulled over. I did a field sobriety test and blew above the legal limit. They arrested me on the spot and took me to jail and booked me. Never in a million years did I think I would end up in jail. It was a very humiliating and horrible experience.
Getting a DUI affected my life in a lot of ways. It’s a really horrible, embarrassing situation and you feel like “How could I have made that decision?” you know, you kind of know better. It’s just really, really depressing and financially it was pretty devastating, it cost a lot of money to go through it and the fear of “how long am I going to go to jail? Am I going to be able to pay my fine?” is pretty horrifying and embarrassing. I was really, really embarrassed that I got myself in that situation.
I didn’t drive drunk for a few years after that but you forget. You forget the humiliation, you forget the financial burden you forget and you do it again and that’s what happened with me.
It was the first time that I had to ask for help. I had to ask for help for everything, to get places, to go to the grocery store, to take my kids to their football games or baseball games. I really had to reach out and ask for help and that was really hard for me.
It was embarrassing to have to tell his friend parents “no, I can’t pick them up or I can’t take my turn driving them to the mall. It was hard on me and hard on them.
I really didn’t think I was intoxicated, I knew I was a little bit buzzed, but I definitely didn’t think I was drunk.
I didn’t really think of the consequences. I knew that I probably shouldn’t be driving but… until the lights went off behind me, the consequences really didn’t go through my head.
I remember the police officer with my first DUI asking me, um I had a car seat in the back of the car and he asked me, “do you have a child with you?” and being really offended, like you know “No, of course there’s not a child with me!” Years later, you know I did drive intoxicated with my kids in the car and the fact is, I could’ve hurt somebody and it’s by the grace of God that I didn’t.
If you’re gonna go out and drink, find a designated driver before you do. Driving while buzzed, is drunk driving.
