Have you or your loved ones/friends ever been harmed by a drink driver?

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Ancient_Bicycle1392@reddit

My wife's cousin was crippled and her son killed by a lunchtime drunk driver at a warden-controlled school crossing. The son had been thrown over a garden wall. It could have been another two killed if the Warden hadn't jumped out the way and the cousin hadn't pushed the wheelchair with her daughter in it out of the way. Hundreds are killed by drunk drivers every year. That means thousands of relatives are affected by the loss, either emotionally and/or financially. Let's see how many UK politicians use the recent reduction in legal blood alcohol levels as cynical political levers to please a minority their constituents. I'm counting and recording ready for the next election.

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joyousjoy23@reddit

Not sure if this fits your question. But as a child of alcoholics most of my childhood I was chauffeured around by tipsy / drunk parents. Growing up I was often very queasy and had to make several trips to the loo before going anywhere in a car. It wasn't until I finally got my driving license and I could drive myself that my anxiety and nerves lifted around cars.

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Ambitious-Win-9408@reddit

I know one person who flipped his car drunk driving, left the car and went home. Reported it 2 days later (very rural area) and apparently got it seen as an accident as nobody could prove he was drunk. (the facts of this came from him so I don't know how true that is) Despite this being dickhead behaviour he hasn't made this mistake again. I myself was subject to the actions of a drunk driver - someone backing out with their engine off into a road caused me to come off a motorbike and hit a construction vehicle. Shattered my scapula and cracked my helmet down the middle.

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SomewhereVirtual4121@reddit

Marcos Alonso killed a woman and her kid drink driving then years later a drunk driver killed his wife and kid

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Nervous-Economy8119@reddit

He killed one woman (his passenger) drink driving. He hasn’t lost his wife and kid.

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raccoonsaff@reddit

We had a family friend in a motorcycle accident, drunk driver, now quadraplegic. I also have a friend who was in a drink driving accident with a group of friends, some died, and he is now paraplegic.

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ForwardAd5837@reddit

A guy I vaguely knew from playing football was drunk driving (6 pints and reportedly drugs too, but only got prosecuted for the drink) and smashed into a taxi, killing some the rapper Cadet. Going 70mph round a blind bend in a 30 zone in a quiet residential village. He spent a few years in prison and I’m told is now out. Think he did less than two years.

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RuneClash007@reddit

I remember going to the gathering in Hyde Park for his remembrance, such a shame

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discoveredunknown@reddit

Wow. I was gutted when I heard about the news about Cadet. Seemed like a really nice guy with a huge heart. What a shit way to have your life cut short.

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ForwardAd5837@reddit

Yeah, the lad who was at fault was a cocky prick beforehand and apparently still is, albeit I don’t live round there anymore to know.

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No_Calligrapher9732@reddit

Former boss around 2001 crashed his Alfa Romeo on a dark country lane after consuming 11 pints of Kronenbourg. Fire Brigade had to physically cut him out of the car. He was sacked a couple of weeks later.

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zoltan_g@reddit

Yep, relative killed by one.

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Prolapse94@reddit

This isn't related to the question but I would like to rant about this topic so here goes: I work in a Custodial setting within the Police and every single shift we have drink/drug drivers. Even when sober they tend to be arrogant and dismissive, often saying things like "why am I here? It's only a drink drive" or telling Officers they should be catching "real criminals". In my opinion, they are catching the real criminals. What always worried me is that you can absolutely BET they've done this 100 times and only just got caught. I believe sentences need to be way harsher for these people, they should banned while the investigation is on going (blood test results) and when awaiting court too, until they're proved innocent atleast. I appreciate this isn't how it's set up, but I believe special exceptions should be made for drink drivers. It ruins people lives: the ones who die or are injured are normally the ones who were just on their home from work when a drink driver ploughs into them... If anyone ever sees someone driving "below the expected standard" (as in poorly) have the road name they're on, direction of travel and reg/description handy if poss

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mibbling@reddit

Yes, this. Someone I know got done for drink driving (and, to their credit, they took the consequences calmly and pretty stoically) but they had been consistently and shamelessly driving drunk for quite some time before they got caught.

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The_Chosen_Eggplant@reddit

I haven't been affected no. Although I know a couple of people who do it pretty nonchanatly and it's mind boggling to me. I thought it was rarity these days so I was surprised. Perhaps it's the lack of policing.

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mumwifealcoholic@reddit

If You choose to drive when you’ve been drinking, you have a drinking problem. One of the main symptoms of alcohol use disorder ( alcoholism) is drinking despite knowing the consequences. I’m lucky. I never hurt anyone or myself. But that is just luck. I still chose to drive. Happy to report I got the help I needed. I look at that time and am appalled. Hope the folks you ‘now get the help they need before it’s too late.

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phatboi23@reddit

> > > > > I’m lucky. I never hurt anyone or myself. But that is just luck. I still chose to drive. > > > > Happy to report I got the help I needed. good you got the help you need :) i confine my drink drive to truck sim lol

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The_Chosen_Eggplant@reddit

Fair play for getting help. I'm a big drinker but don't drive. Yeah, maybe they have a problem. I think it's more lack of caring though for these people I know from what I see anyway.

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phatboi23@reddit

mates mrs. they were riding home on seperate bikes (only 125cc) she was taken out by a guy who decided coming out of a T junction at mach jesus (probably 60ish?) smashed into my mates mrs at the time guy was completely HAMMERED. he's not rode a motorbike since and he still blames himself. (usual, i could have been there, better it was me etc.) when he pops mine he chucks his keys in my drawer and says "they're staying there for now also don't let me grab them before tomorrow"

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Adam-West@reddit

Yep, sisters partner got killed by one. And in my school there was an accident where the driver survived and killed his 3 best friends in the car with him.

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Iforgotmypassword126@reddit

It was in the news at the time, but my elderly neighbour was walking down a pretty bog standard street with her 8 year old granddaughter. It was Sunday morning around 11am and a hungover/drunk driver was doing 45 MPH in a 30, lost control and killed the 6 year old. He fled the scene and videos from the local coffee shops etc showed him driving erotically and very fast for the area. He got 3 years in prison. He’s out now. My neighbour has never been the same since. She knows she’s done nothing wrong but she can’t get over it. She doesn’t go out much and has aged a lot in the last 5 years since the accident.

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Illustrious_Study_30@reddit

How does one drive erotically ? I shudder to think.

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Rourkie100@reddit

My Dad’s Dad was killed by a drunk driver in 1966. He died 5 months before my Dad was due to be born, and we later found out he’d pushed his brother out of the way and saved his life. The man had drank a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and got away with it. My Dad was deprived a father because of it.

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KeepOnTrippinOn@reddit

My best friend from primary school was killed by a drunk driver January 1994. We were in the last year of high school by then and not anywhere near as close as we used to be but it still saddens me to this day.

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_eldubs_@reddit

When I was a kid, my uncle killed someone while he was drunk driving. I grew up in a small, close knit community. I went to school with my brother, my cousins and one uncle who was close to my age. We also went to the same school as a few children related to the person who died. The kids related to the person who died, made our lives hell in school. I was about 7, so I didn't understand it all. I know throughout the housing estate we lived on, the extended family of the person who died, made my grandparents life hell too, like it was their fault. My parents ended up moving, I started a different school, to get away from it all My uncle went to prison for a few years, definitely didn't go away for long enough. I don't see him even now, almost 30 years on. I don't condone what he did in the slightest. He was a raging alcoholic for a long time when he came out, but never got behind the wheel again until he was sober. I don't blame the family for taking out their frustrations/anger/sadness in the only way they knew how to. And I am fully, 100 percent aware that their family suffered far more than I did. But I was just a little kid and suddenly had this whole family, and half of the estate I grew up, hating me for something someone else had done

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____JustBrowsing@reddit

My 2 year old sister was killed by a drunk driver. Coincidentally she would’ve been 27 years old today.

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AJMurphy_1986@reddit

My nan was killed by a drink driver when I was 5. I was staying with my grandparents at the time. She went out to the shops, didn't come back. Killed instantly when crossing the road by someone doing 50 in a 30 and well over the limit. He did time, but not enough, hope it haunts him to this day, but selfish cunts like that usually don't have much of a conscience in the 1st place.

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fantasticmrsmurf@reddit

A drunk driver hit me on a dual carriageway 1 month after I passed my test, wrote my car off.

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Danglyweed@reddit

14 years old, drunk driver decided to cut right across the motorway, at tea time. No one killed surprisingly but has left me with permanent back injuries. Mum's best friends son was killed at 16 after taking his dad's car on a drunken joyride.

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lavayuki@reddit

Not me but my mothers boss. He drove drunk and ended up driving into a ditch and writing off his car. He had his license suspended for a year, some minor injuries. Also, my brother’s friend’s older brother was an alcohol addict, he had a pretty bad drink driving related incident and ended up with multiple broken bones and in a coma in ICU. I think his incident was also similar, no other drivers involved, he drove the car off a hill or something like that. It took him months to get recover, driving licence was permanently revoked because he had previous alcohol offences. These are the only two I know. My dad is an alcoholic, he never crashed the car but ended up in court and had his license revoked for being caught via breathalyser 3 times in 6 months. He was also on the way to the corner shop to buy more vodka and got caught on the way. He has been into hospital multiple times with alcohol related issues as well.

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CoffeeandaTwix@reddit

My uncle was killed by a drunk driver. He was remorseful in court etc. but he wasted a valuable life out of his own selfishness. Not a loved one or friend but a few years ago, I was witness to a hit and run at Xmas and there is a good chance that that driver was a drink driver. He left a man for dead in the road. I stopped and stayed with the man who regained consciousness but unfortunately later died of his wounds. That stuck with me for a while tbh even though I didn't know him from Adam.

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JoeyJoeC@reddit

Drunk driver drove out of the pub a couple of weeks ago and almost collided with the car in front of me. The car infront of me naturally gave the 'wanker' sign at him and the drunk driver stopped, stumbled out and threatened the driver. The driver didnt get out, just didnt his best to ignore him. Realising the drunk guy was an older man, me and 2 other drivers confronted him. Others told him to get back into his car which he did. I told my girlfriend to call the police and we followed him for about 2 miles, he almost crashed once but somehow drove well enough, guessing he's done it a few times. Police told us to use the 'report a driving offence' tool on their website and called it a day.

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Smeeble09@reddit

Yep, two different times. One died due to it, the other spent months in a coma and has some brain damage ever since.

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Stevebwrw@reddit

Someone binned their car into the neighbour across the roads wall. They spun across the road. Car clearly a write off. They ran off. Police got them later I think.

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Isgortio@reddit

A school friend was hit in the middle of the day by someone high on drugs and was drunk, their car pinned her against a lamp post and she died fairly quickly. She was only 19. :/

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thefastestwayback@reddit

My best friend got killed aged 15. Her sister killed herself dealing with the grief and turmoil 13 months later, so my friends mother had to bury both her children in the space of just over a year. The person who did it was out a few years later and is presumably living his life again. I don’t have much patience for anyone excusing drink driving.

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ForwardAd5837@reddit

I haven’t been harmed, but my family and I were lucky. At around 5am one weekday morning, we heard an awful, loud, metallic noise from outside and the vibrations of a huge impact. A drunk driver had come off the road, gone into my neighbours’ front garden, smashed through their fence, into our front garden, then hit my Mum’s car, ploughing it into my Step Dad’s and into a window at the front of the house. Luckily, the two parked cars stopped the driver from carrying on into the house, killing its momentum enough so that the main damage was the cars and the bottom of the bay window. As we lived in a bungalow, this was my parents bedroom. Luckily my Step Dad couldn’t be bothered to put his car in the garage the previous night.

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Bulbasaurus__Rex@reddit

God that's terrifying. Did they catch the drunk driver?

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ForwardAd5837@reddit

Yes, he lost his licence and paid for most of the damages etc (car insurance premiums stayed high for my parents for a few years after) but didn’t see any jail time. He was way, way over the limit too.

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blurdyblurb@reddit

I had a friend from Uni who died in a head on collision with a drunk driver, but it was in Kobe, Japan, back in the 90's. A big earthquake hit Kobe just afterwards.

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strawberrypops@reddit

Yes, my friend got hit by a drunk driver last year. It was late at night and the drunk driver was speeding and on the wrong side of the road, hit my friend’s car head on. Friend and the other passenger were badly hurt, the drunk driver died at the scene. The lad who died was only young, apparently he’d had a few drinks and then offered to pick his friends up when they got stranded. Lovely guy by all accounts, just made a bad decision. Very sad set of circumstances.

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Pinecone_Porcupine@reddit

Not personally affected, yet. Every time I walk by the three local pubs, their car parks are always full. Likely hood of the drivers drinking then driving is near 100%. I can’t imagine all of them drinking zero alcohol beers and Diet Coke. There is no deterrent because there is no police presence doing breathalyzer tests. Even if someone is killed, sentencing is minimal.

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monkeymidd@reddit

My uncle was killed by a drunk driver on New Year’s Day , he was 28. Just driving to see his girlfriend and someone 4 times over the limit hit him , he never even stood a chance. Just don’t , my uncle lost his life and the guy who hit him went down , 2 families destroyed for no real reason.

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Bulbasaurus__Rex@reddit

Not me personally but my childhood best friend's dad killed someone drunk driving. He worked as a HGV driver and was a functioning alcoholic. He did get prison but can't remember how long, a few years maybe. It completely tore my mate's family apart. Her mum and dad separated and she had to move away. Her dad was her absolute hero and she struggled to cope with the fact he was now a killer, not to mention not being able to see him anymore. They didn't have much of a relationship when he got out of prison, I think the impact of his crime took too much of a toll. I believe the crash took place near a school as well. I dread to think that children might have been witness to it, not to mention of course the fact the victim lost his life and the impact of his loss on his loved ones. Drunk driving causes so much unimaginable harm. There are so many ripple effects. It is just not worth it.

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Falloffingolfin@reddit

I had 4 friends die because of drink driving between 1996 and 2000, all in their late teens. One was the passenger on the back of a motorbike and her wasted boyfriend pulled out in front of a bus. One was in the passenger seat with another guy driving. Both were wasted. Police flashed them, driver panicked and put his foot down. Turned into a police chase. Friend panicked and tried to jump out of the car when it went round a corner. Don't know exactly what happened then but he didn't survive. Another accident was a bit of a freak as they were proven not to be speeding, but they'd all been drinking. Car skidded on a resurfaced road and clipped a lamp post. Wasn't a major impact and everyone was just focussing on the car damage, not realising my friend in the passenger seat was dead. Fourth one was walking home and a drunk driver hit him on the pavement and fled. That's the official line from police based on tire marks and how his body was found. Car had to have mounted the pavement, so the assumption is intoxication. Driver was never found. So, there's a few of the myriad of ways that alcohol and vehicles can kill.

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crucible@reddit

My Dad had to take the keys off a good friend once. The journey *to* the pub was sufficiently alarming…

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AnOtherGuy1234567@reddit

Cousin, living in France killed Wife #1 through drink drive.

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allthemodsarenonces@reddit

As an 18 year old, I was a passenger in a car that was driven by a drunk driver. I knew they’d had a drink, but wasn’t aware they’d had quite as much as they actually had. This was 15 years ago in a very rural part of a country where drink driving was very much socially acceptable. The driver fishtailed on a country road, swerved off, hit a ditch and rolled the car five times into a field. We ended up upside down in a field in the middle of nowhere. Apart from cuts, bruises and whiplash, all three of us in the car were okay. To this day I’m amazed at how lucky we were and as a result, I’ve since never set foot in a car with someone who had been drinking. It’s just not worth it.

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Suedehead88@reddit

Yes, my uncle & his friend were killed in a road accident caused by a drunk driver.

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JakeGrey@reddit

More annoyed than harmed, but someone crashed their Vauxhall Corsa into a stationary vehicle outside my home in the middle of the night one time, and I found myself contending with an aggressively drunk man yelling for someone to help him push the car out of the road when I made the mistake of venturing outside to see what the hell the noise was. He wasn't the driver, surprisingly, but his girlfriend was only slightly less pissed than he was. The one serious car crash I've ever been in was when someone blew past a Give Way sign six feet from the front bumper of my dad's car when I was a little kid, but she turned out to be completely sober and probably didn't even own a mobile phone.

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ultimatewooderz@reddit

My cousin was hit head on by a drunk driver.. she hasn't been able to walk for long since. Was in hospital a while,.we were all very worried He got a slap on the wrist

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Philster07@reddit

Had a drunk driver mount the curb squeeze between me and the hedge and take off my wing mirror. He just chucked me 800 quid in cash to get it fixed then and there. Wasn't proud of taking it and should have gone through insurance/police but I couldn't afford the monthly payments to go up as i'd only just past 3 weeks before.

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Miserable-Avocado-87@reddit

An old friend of mine accidentally killed himself drink driving. Put his Land Rover through a fence, one of the fence posts went through his eye, which was surgically removed. He spent a few days on life support before his parents accepted he was brain dead and switched it off. He was 21 years old and engaged to a close friend of mine. She naturally fell apart, as they were planning a life together. It's been about 14 years now since he died, but I still reufse to get in a cat with anyone who's had even 1 drink

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turingthecat@reddit

Probably sensible, my cats are terrified drivers Sorry, sorry, no that’s awful. I don’t blame you, I actually stopped drinking all together for several years, when I passed my test, so I could make sure everyone got home safe, and made sure my friends knew that could call me any time, no questions asked, if they were out, and got stuck or felt unsafe. Having to drag my arse out of bed at 3am was a lot less painful than losing a friend. My friend group have aged out of binge drinking every Friday and Saturday night, but I’m happy not to drink and being the DD, if I know about it

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E5evo@reddit

I haven’t personally been affected but came across a few who had while serving as a HMP officer. Along with the other scourge, Death by Dangerous Driving (using a mobile phone whilst driving) Both as bad as each other.

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Sophyska@reddit

College friend killed on his motorbike by a drunk driver. Driver was speeding, on a windy road and going into the wrong side of the carriageway. My friend on their motorbike out for a nice sunny ride didn’t stand a chance.

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therealhairykrishna@reddit

Drunk driver wrote off my parked RX8. I'd spent a bloody fortune on it and just got it running how I wanted it. She was driving back from the pub and misjudged driving past it. Lucky it wasn't a person.

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blondererer@reddit

No, but I went to school with someone who paralysed a pedestrian, as they chose to drink and drive. They went to prison, lost their job (they were a mechanic for a well-known brand) and it messed them up. I have about zero sympathy for them and hope that their victim is as OK as can be.

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chilli-manilli@reddit

Yes. I nearly lost my mum when I was 16. I had lost my dad a few years earlier, so I would have been left as an orphan. A family friend took me to see my mum and I walked past the drink driver who had nearly killed her. Unbelievably, my mum and him were very close to each other in the ward. I have got his name and now, 30 years later I still try to find out where he is from the Internet so that I can exact some revenge. Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to locate him.

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Spiritual_Weather656@reddit

I got whiplash and luckily survived from being rear ended in a taxi by a drunk driver. It was a Saturday night and I hadn't been drinking, but was just trying to get home. The poor taxi driver wasn't wearing a seatbelt and his head went through the windshield, I don't know him personally so did not know his condition after he was taken to hospital but he was doing okay after the initial crash, but concussions can take nasty turns so I don't really know. His car /job was totaled, that I do know. The drunk driver and all the people in his car were okay. Thanks to crumble zones. Wear your seatbelt. Stop drunk driving. If I can take a taxi when I haven't even drunk anything, you can take one when you have.

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