On Driving…
In late April, 2007, John Hancock, a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals was killed in a car crash. His Ford Explorer crashed into a tow truck that was in his lane with its flashers on helping a previous accident victim. Everyone, of course, was shocked at this terrible tragedy – moments of silence were observed all around MLB. ESPN’s article had the following quotes in it:
Bud Selig, MLB Comissioner:
"All of baseball today mourns the tragic and untimely death of
Branden Looper, teammate: "Josh was a great teammate and a great friend to everybody, and he was a key part of our success."
Jeff Suppan, former teammate: "He was quiet, kind of soft-spoken, but definitely a good guy,"
Tim Hudson, former college teammate: "Josh was such a
good person. I saw him a few times a year going back to
Clint Hurdle, Rockies Manager: "It's terrible, another terrible event. The young man had done so well last fall and had a promising career. It's just terrible."
Several days later, the following facts were revealed.
1) He was driving drunk with twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood
2) He was talking on his cell phone at the time of the accident to a girl he was planning to meet at another bar
3) He was driving 68 in a 55
4) He was not wearing a seatbelt (according to the police this probably wouldn’t have mattered, but it’s still no good)
5) Analysis of the crash revealed that he didn’t brake at all – he only swerved at the last second
When I heard this, I was happy. I’m not usually happy when people die, lest you think I’m completely sick. But I was happy this time, and you should be too, because there is one fewer drunk driver in this world and he didn’t kill or even injure any innocent people. Nothing that his teammates say could ever convince me that he is a “good guy.” Good people don’t endanger the lives of others through their own reckless and completely unnecessary behavior.
The fact that people will still drive drunk is unfathomable to me. Partly our judicial system is to blame – the penalty for DUI is far too lenient. As pointed out in David Skylansky’s Fighting Fuzzy Thinking in Poker, Gaming and Life, the penalty for drunk driving should be identical to the penalty for manslaughter, since which crime you commit is purely a matter of luck. The same should, of course be true for murder and attempted murder, but that is another matter entirely. In my ideal universe, the penalty for DUI would be a permanent loss of the right to drive. I would be ok with there being some zone of intoxication that’s barely over the legal limit which would result in only a 10-year loss of license. But still – much more serious than the penalties are now.
From watching the way people drive, and from the incidences of drunk driving that continue to happen, something is eminently clear to me – people don’t take driving nearly seriously enough. The fact is that driving is, for 99.9% of us, the single most dangerous thing we will ever do. Car accidents are the leading cause of death of people aged 16-30 or so. Before driving, you should ask yourself if you’re prepared to save your life, or possibly the lives of others if you need to. If you can’t confidently answer “yes,” then you shouldn’t be driving. If you don’t think about driving this way, then you aren’t serious enough about driving.