This Death is No 'Accident'

The Boston Herald

I say it every time they leave the house Don't drink and drive. I don't know if they hear me. I say it so often it's background noise. The only words I say more often are 'I love you.' They're 22 and 24 my oldest children. They go out. They socialize. They drink. We all do. I go out. I socialize. I drink. 

And I drive home.

But ever since I got legally drunk a few years ago at a police station, to see what it felt like, to know exactly how much I would have to drink to be legally drunk, I don't drink much and I stop drinking long before I drive. I learned that alcohol doesn't just diminish judgment. It undermines it. Legally drunk, I felt fine, a little tired but certain I was sober enough to drive. I wasn't slurring my words. I wasn't falling down drunk. I wasn't even tipsy.

But my reflexes were compromised. My judgment was impaired, so impaired that I couldn't judge my own sobriety. Alcohol is dangerous because of this. Have one drink and you feel good. Have two drinks and you feel better. A 19-year-old was killed in a drunk driving crash last Saturday night. David Hallion of Franklin, a second-year student at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, was a passenger in a car driven by his friend, George Atherton, 20, also of Franklin. Atherton's car overturned on a Route 495 on-ramp. State Trooper David Fisher said Atherton registered .11 on a Breathalyzer test; .10 is the level at which a person is considered intoxicated under Massachusetts law. A second passenger in the car, Robert DiCenzio of Millis was hospitalized. A third passenger, John Breitmaier of Franklin, was unhurt.

The father of the dead youth, instead of lashing out at the driver, his son's friend, has said that he has 'a problem' with Atherton's being charged with drunk driving. 'I know what he was charged with, and I know they were drinking. But these kids were not wild. I know they probably had a couple of beers. I have a problem with his friend being charged with that because he must feel terrible. I don't think he had that much to drink.' These are generous, understanding, charitable words from a man who has just buried his son. But though they are meant to soothe and comfort, they are dangerous sentiments because they lend credence to the myth that you can drink and drive, that a few beers don't count, that boys who aren't wild or bad or heavy drinkers can handle a couple of drinks and that a crash involving alcohol is an accident, when it is not.

Atherton had too much to drink, not just because a machine said so, not just because of some damning numbers, but because an on-ramp that he could ordinarily navigate, that thousands of people navigate every day, became an unnavigable death alley. A person reads that Atherton registered a .11 and thinks that's only a little above .10. How bad could he have been? Bad enough to be impaired. Bad enough to be so impaired that he was going too fast when he hit that ramp. Bad enough that he lost control not just of his car, but of himself. Many states, including this one, are debating legislation which would further reduce the blood alcohol level for those under 21. Why? Because people under 21 aren't supposed to be drinking and because even a few beers hit young people harder than older people. The 16 to 19-year-old driver with a BAC level of . 06 equals that of the 25 to 34-year-old driver with a BAC of .10 in terms of risk to the public. By the time a 16 to 19-year-old driver reaches the .10 BAC his risk of involvement in a fatal car crash has increased 400 times!

Atherton is just 20. He is underage. He shouldn't have been drinking at all. He most definitely shouldn't have been driving. But young people and older people do these things because they think, I'm all right. I only had a few beers. I only had wine. I can drive.

The alcohol tells them this. The alcohol assures them that they're fine. What friends and parents and the law need to tell them is that alcohol lies.

David Hallion was studying to be a painter. He admired Van Gogh and Picasso. He loved painting landscapes. He had a lifetime ahead of him.

He isn't dead because of an accident. He's dead because his friend drank then drove.