We all like to indulge, whether it’s eating too much popcorn at the movies or snoozing away too much of a Saturday morning in bed. But not all indulgences are so innocent.

How much is drinking indulgence worth? Is it worth snuffing out a family’s lives? Is it worth spending the rest of your life behind bars? Even for those who often see the world in an alcohol-drenched haze, the answer should be clear.

It’s not worth it – not for the drinker, not for his or her victims, not for anyone. Rather, drunk driving is  one of the most horrendous yet most persistent tragedies in America, and all because someone thought that heavy drinking – and then driving – would be worth it, it would be OK, it wouldn’t really matter. And then, in an instant, it does matter, and everything changes and never can be the same again.

Such was the case last December when Michael Gagnon drank far too much at an Oregon bar, then got into his truck and hit the Interstate – going in the wrong direction. Before long, his truck slammed into a mini-van carrying a mother and four children from Maryland. All died. Gagnon survived.

Today he’s behind bars, having just been sentenced to 43 years in prison for aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated assault. Was his evening of drinking and his drunk driving worth it? Clearly not. Yet he did it anyway. Now others can learn from his lesson. Now they can ask themselves: Is it worth it for me to indulge in as much drinking as I want, especially before I take the wheel of a car?

Gagnon, at least, had no excuses. He pleaded no contest to the charges. And he told the courtroom at his sentencing that he was “deeply sorry.” But words are cheap, especially after the fact. Deeds, not words, are what really matter here, and Gagnon’s deeds – or misdeeds –  wiped out five lives, all because he thought drinking himself into a near-stupor, and then trying to drive, was worth it.

Drunk drivers are so big of a problem that they cause more than one-third of all vehicle fatalities per year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. About 42,000 people die on America’s roads annually, and about 16,000 of them are dead because someone took too many drinks, and then took the wheel.

Thanks to the efforts of groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), the number has declined in recent years, but it’s still a horrendous toll.  And the state leading the way with the most such deaths is Texas, followed by California and Florida.

If you’ve been injured in an accident involving a drunk driver, of if you’ve lost a loved one in such an accident, you know that nothing truly can compensate for such loss. But remedies do exist for easing the burden, for punishing the guilty and for sending a message to potential drunk drivers: Don’t do it. One such remedy is a personal injury lawyer with Jim S. Adler & Associates. A drunk driving lawyer may not bring back your loved one, but he or she may reaffirm the answer above.

Is drunk driving worth it? The sobering answer is no – not ever.

Share on Facebook