Summary: On June 15, 2013, a young teen by the name of Ethan Couch was DOI and had a car accident that killed four people. He got behind the wheel with seven other people and swerved off the road hitting a killing a young woman whose car had broken down on the side of the road, and three others who had stopped to help her. Two of the teens that were riding in his truck suffered traumatic impact and another teen suffered sever brain damage to the point of no verbalization or mobilization. The police say he was three times over the alcohol limit of an adult to be driving and that he was driving 70 mph in a 40 mph zone. Couch pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years' of probation without any jail time. Now as an 18-year-old adult, Couch says he remembered nothing from the night but suffers from "affluenza". This is a disorder in which a person has no guidance or responsibility guidelines, so they have no clue how to handle tough situations.
Analysis: This story reminds me of how people, even back in the 1800's, could become a completely different person just by being influenced by one simple thing. Whether that be alcohol, peer pressure, or drugs, they can completely harass us and change, not only our lives, but others as well. I think we need to make a bigger deal out of drinking and driving, because obviously the message isn't reaching many people. Even drinking while under the age of 21 can mess up your life forever because your brain doesn't have the capacity to even understand what you are putting in your body. When people are 21, they need to understand the purpose of the advice, "Drink Responsibly". How Ethan got the alcohol, I don't know, but he did. So that either means that someone older gave it to him, he had a fake ID, he stole it, or whoever was selling it to him didn't check his ID. Whichever reason, none of them are good enough to support how many lives he changed that day because he wasn't being responsible.
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This is very tragic to hear about, but sadly it is not that uncommon in today's society. I think, like you mentioned, we need to put more emphasis on underage drinking. We stress not to drink and drive,but when people who are under-aged are under the influence they are even more susceptible to doing things without knowing it.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that drivers education companies are trying very hard to stress this, at least drivers.com was, yet people still neglect it and don't think about the outcome. Things like this could have easily been avoided just by making the smart decision.
ReplyDelete-Julianne Swaykus 6
I agree with you, young adults need to be educated that drinking and driving is a small, stupid decision that can make a huge impact. Couch made this stupid decision and 10 years probation isn't enough for taking someone's life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. There are so many accidents that have been caused by drinking and driving that it is just becoming something normal. I think everyone should be more educated at a younger age of the effects that alcohol can do to your body.
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