The March 25 issue of Utne Reader magazine’s WebWatch Daily introduces an article in the Minneapolis-St. Paul City Pages with this:
“Just plead guilty, give ’em your money, and get on with your life,” a Department of Motor Vehicles worker suggests to City Pages writer G.R. Anderson Jr. after his driver’s license is revoked for a drunk driving charge. But Anderson can’t get on with his life: It is his first DWI, and his first night in jail. The experience leaves him ashamed and devastated.
It’s not just that it’s a well-described account of what happens in the DWI system and the pros and cons of the various strategies for fighting the charges. What’s riveting is Anderson’s struggle to deal with his emotions, his ethics, his drinking history, his girlfriend, his father.
I drove very drunk once in my life, back in 1969 when I was twenty years old. A few times before that, I definitely drove impaired. It gives me a chill even now to think how easily I could have killed someone. Nobody talked much about drunk driving back then. My parents never mentioned it when I was learning to drive. MADD didn’t exist. But that’s just rationalizing. I wasn’t a problem drinker, I was just a stupid kid being macho.
Nowadays, though, I’m inclined to think that anyone who drives drunk has a drinking problem, including Anderson. The educational messages on the dangers of drunk driving are so pervasive. His chem dep evaluation is a sham — it’s ridiculous to evaluate someone without interviewing their family members and employer. And although he now seems to be ‘scared straight,’ this paragraph makes me worried:
But mostly, I think about myself, and how many times I have driven drunk and gotten away with it. I remember all of the times I convinced myself I would get home safe, never get pulled over, and never hurt anyone else. And then I think about how, since my DWI, I have yet to get behind the wheel if I’ve had even a whiff of alcohol.
Why? He’s a repeat drunk driver, just not yet a repeat DWI offender. He knew it was wrong yet he continued to risk it. And his statement about no drinking and driving since his DWI seems defensive. It has the air of, “See, it’s been a year and I’m still being responsible, therefore I’m not a problem drinker.” Maybe, maybe not. I’d be more confident if he’d said something like “I wonder if I’ll drink and drive again? I don’t quite understand what alcohol does to me, when and why I’m vulnerable to abusing it, why it’s important to me, what I fear I would lose if I gave it up. I guess I’d better work at answering those questions, or sure as shit, it’ll happen again.”