Projo Cars Blog

I can't make it up.

Just a few days after I wrote about the carnage caused by drunk drivers, a new study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) finds Rhode Island ranks high in estimated numbers of adults driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Disgracefully high.

Indeed, Rhode Island ranks 8th in the estimated number of adults driving drunk in the past year, with a 20.4 percent ranking. Wisconsin topped the list with 26.4 percent, followed by North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, Massachusetts and then Rhode Island.

Mormon-dominated Utah rounded out the list with 9.5 percent; Mormons eschew alcohol.

And when it comes to driving under the influence of drugs, Rhode Island ranks an even worse second with 6.8 percent. Only the District of Columbia ranks worse with 7.0 percent. New Jersey came in best with only 3.2 percent.

While I am sure these numbers are open to interpretation, the results are damning. At what point do we seriously regard drunk driving as totally unacceptable because of the regular mayhem caused to innocent people?

As I have said earlier, do not give me that BS about alcoholism being a disease. I really don't care if it is or it isn't. And it certainly should not serve as an excuse. The main thing is to get drunk drivers off the roads where they are a public danger.

And when I say drunk drivers, I mean ALL of us. I admit I have driven a few times with one or two many drinks inside me - and I'll bet most of you have too. I've been lucky in not having had an accident, let alone hurt anyone. And I mean lucky.

Too often we think we can handle our social drinking. And too often luck is on our side. But when it is not, the results can be disastrous.

If a drunk driver drives into a tree and ends up dead or injured, that's his or her problem (and a problem for police officers who have to clean up the mess).

But if a drunk driver kills or maims innocent people, it is our problem. None of us deserves that level of bad luck.

- Peter C.T. Elsworth

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