Narrative Final Draft

Drunk Driving

            Looking through the shattered windshield, all I could think about was my mother.  I don’t know why she came to mind, I can only guess it was because I knew how angry and heartbroken she would have been had I died.  I looked over at Eli in the driver’s seat, he was okay, and then back at Emmett, he was okay too.  Then all at the same time Eli’s profanities hit my ears, I felt the tan clothed roof pressing down on my head, and the warm liquid slowly working its way down the back of my neck, into my shirt, and down the length of my arm.  My window had broken, and a few pieces sat on my lap.  The cold winter air brushed against my face, giving me the chills.  It was one of those cold, clear, windless nights; about 10 below.

I looked back through the windshield, trying to get an idea of where we had landed.  It was a field.  I looked behind us through the crushed port that used to contain the rear windshield, and was astonished by the distance between the road and our twisted metal heap.  I shook my head and tried to remember how we had gotten here.

It was the day after Christmas in my senior year of high school.  We were all excited about the gifts we had received, especially the money, and there was no stopping us from celebrating.  We splurged that night and got Bombay Sapphire, none of that cheap liquor we always had to drink to save money.  Gin and tonic with lime.  I had the big cup that night, and I was pretty pleased with myself.  A “bro night” if there ever was one, we played drinking games late into the night and eventually Jonas, the host went to bed complaining about working for his father in the morning.  Eli, Emmett, and I stayed awake with our eyes glued to the television set and Halo 3.

I do not know how, but we managed to agree that drunk driving was a good plan; not for any particular purpose other than to drive drunk and have a crazy time.  Eli would drive us and we would all wear our seatbelts.

We got in the car.

            It was cold when we first got in, but not too bad.  I knew it would warm up.  We pulled out of the driveway and began down the road.  We were pumped up and Eli began accelerating.  The roads were not in good condition to begin with.  Maine is not exactly known for its smooth roads, and this was a prime example.  Appleton, Maine has the worst roads in the county; the fastest you would ever want to go on them is about 50 miles per hour on a good day.  Today was not a good day.  It had been raining all day, and when it rains in Maine in the winter, the water freezes.  In my experienced opinion, “freezing rain” is by far the most dangerous precipitation out there.

            The rain comes down from the sky, and because of the subzero temperatures, freezes the instant it comes into contact with any solid object, including roads.  We had gotten about a quarter of an inch of rain that day, and that meant a quarter inch of ice on the roads.  A quarter of an inch of ice on the roads turns them into a veritable ice rink.  You get almost zero traction, making sliding a serious and dangerously common possibility.

            We sped down Appleton Ridge Road going faster and faster.  Eli’s SUV had horrible acceleration and by the time we reached the crest of the hill, we were going only about 60mph.  As we began our descent the car lifted slightly, as our upward momentum fought the downward force of gravity, and the pressure from the tires on the road lessened.  This lapse in pressure was enough to set the car free of the static frictional force that held it in place, and we began to drift to the right.  Eli sensed this and swerved to the left to avoid going off the road.  We began drifting left now, and he swerved back right, drastically over compensating.  There was a big bump, and then a sort of weightless feeling.  I have a snapshot of the still intact windshield with an upside down world beyond, forever burned into the bedrock of my mind.  I barely knew it, but I do remember thinking the words, “We’re rolling right now.  This is actually happening.”  Then we stopped.

           

            I jolted out of my recollecting daze, and looked back at Eli.

            “Are you alright?” I asked.

            “Yeah, I think so. Are you okay, Emmett?”

            “Yeah I’m okay,” Emmett replied.  “Did that just happen?

            “Yeah it did,” I answered.

            We got out of the car and for a few minutes attempted – in our drunken stupor – to get the vehicle going again, so we could drive back to Jonas’ house.  It of course did not work and soon we began a long, cold walk back.

            We all later found out how extremely lucky we were to have walked away so unscathed.  No one was ever able to determine how the cut on my head had been made, but I did test positive for a major concussion and had to sit out of school work for three weeks.  Other than my concussion though, there was not even a single scratch anywhere on any of us.

            The police came to Jonas’ at around 3am.  Someone had seen the twisted metal lump and reported the accident.  They add 0.02 to your blood alcohol content for every hour that passes after an incident, so when Eli blew a 0.16, the police recorded that he had had a BAC of 0.20 at the time of the accident.  He was eventually charged with an OUI (operating under the influence is the same in Maine as driving while intoxicated is in New York), driving to endanger, and leaving the scene of an accident.  The officer skipped the breathalyzer and instead gave Emmett and I sobriety tests, which we passed, and so the police have no record that we were ever drinking, and Emmett and I were never charged with anything.

            The wreck was carried on the back of a flatbed to a junkyard in the next town over.  The three of us got together two days later and went to see it.  One of the scariest thoughts to me is that when the man behind the counter let us into the yard, and we were searching for Eli’s more than totaled SUV, we actually walked right past it.  Not even Eli recognized the remains of his old car.  The guy stopped us and pointed to a big green metal barrel, and asked if maybe this was the car we were looking for.  We gawked.  It was indeed Eli’s car.  The bright yellow “Share the road” sticker on the back told us that, but there was no other resemblance to the vehicle in which we’d taken so many joy rides and balmy summer cruises.
            We looked around the car for a few minutes, each inspecting the area around the seat we'd been sitting in.  Outside of my door there was a big round rock that I would estimate weighed about 600 lbs.  I asked the worker why this big rock was sitting so close to the car, and he told me exactly how lucky we all were to be alive.
            "When your car went off the road the front right wheel caught in a ditch, and forced the car to start rolling.  You rolled 8 times before landing on an old rock wall.  This rock was lodged in the front right wheel well.  You guys are all very lucky you landed right side up; if the car had landed upside down I doubt I'd be talking to any of you."

            4000 teens die every year in alcohol related car accidents (Teenage Drinking).  We escaped with our lives, but that does not mean everyone will.  I'm sure you have heard it a thousand times by now, but the best way to ensure that you will not die in a drunk driving accident is to just not put yourself in that situation.
            You've heard the phrase "friends don't let friends drive drunk," and that's the best way to prevent accidents.  All it would have taken is one of us to mention how miserably stupid of an idea it was to go driving that night, and it never would have happened.  An article published by a research group out of the University of Michigan lead by Jean T. Shope, Ph. D., a research professor at the University of Michigan, cites peer pressure and friends' support of drinking as the main causes for teen drunk driving (Shope).  Surely if peer pressure can cause teens to drink and drive, peer pressure can do just the opposite. 
            Eli, Emmett and I were lucky, very lucky.  We easily could have been among those 4000 dead teens, but somehow we made it out with our lives.  Don't do what we did; chances are, you won't be as lucky.  If you think one of your friends is planning on driving home or joyriding like we did after having a few drinks, tell them how uncool and dangerous it is.  No one wants to do something that they know their friends don't want them to do.  Peer pressure can get kids in trouble, but it can also save your friends' lives.





Works Cited:

Shope, Jean T., Trivellore E. Raghunathan, and Sajuta M. Patil. "Examining Trajectories of 

            Adolescent Risk Factors as Predictors of Subsequent High-risk Driving Behavior." Journal of 

            Adolescent Health. 24 May 2002. Web. 10 May 2011.

 

"Teenage Drinking and Driving." Alcohol Solutions. Web. 10 May 2011.