Thinking about drinking and driving? Consider Adam Childress fate first

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

If you are going to drink alcohol and get behind the wheel then please consider the following for a moment before you do.

In 2001, Lester Cook had been drinking when he got behind the wheel of his 1984 Corvette, sped off and lost control of his car running over a pregnant woman, who was working in the flower bed in her yard. His estimated blood alcohol level at the time of the crash was about twice the legal limit.

In 2007, Raymond Garner, whose license had recently been suspended for drunk driving, was barreling up I-75 in his pick-up truck hauling a rickety old trailer with all his worldly belongings as he was moving from Tennessee to Kentucky. Black box data from the truck showed he had it floored when he lost control, crossed into the median and went airborne striking two vehicles.

The impact killed a pregnant 25-year-old woman and her unborn child in one vehicle. It decapitated an eight-year-old boy in another vehicle. At the time of the crash, Garner had a blood alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit.

On April 13, 2016, Adam Childress had been drinking when he drove his vehicle, and ran over and killed a man, who was walking his dog along a Williamsburg sidewalk. Childress kept going and didn’t stop until he wrecked a second time going off the road and down an embankment. His blood alcohol level was nearly four times the legal limit.

By all accounts, none of the three are evil people, and were probably decent enough folks when sober.

Two were old alcoholics. The other was a younger man, who had a substance abuse issue.

I suspect that, if given the chance, all three would gladly switch places with the people they killed.

I don’t say this to excuse or in any way mitigate what these three men did. Instead, I bring this up in hopes that people will think twice before they drink and drive.

One thing these three men have in common with nearly everyone, who drinks alcohol and then drives, is that they had no intention of hurting anyone on those fateful days, let alone killing them. Their lack of bad intentions didn’t change the tragic outcomes. Innocent people got killed because of their poor decisions and actions.

I would encourage those reading this to think before you drink and drive, and ask yourself these three questions before you even put your key in the ignition after you have been drinking.

“Would you want your young child, or grandchild, or niece or nephew riding in a car with someone, who has drunk as much as you have?”

“Would you want your father, mother, husband or wife to be out on the road with someone, who has drunk as much as you have?”

“Knowing what they know now would Lester Cook, Raymond Garner or Adam Childress tell you its OK to drive after having drank that much?”

If you know without hesitation the answer to those questions is yes, then you are probably OK to drive.

If you answered no to any of these questions, or even hesitated before answering yes, then it’s probably a good idea to call a friend to come pick you and take you home.

I think we can be sure that in hindsight, Lester Cook, Raymond Garner and Adam Childress all wish they had gotten a designated driver.

Please learn from the tragedies they caused instead of causing your own.