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04:20 PM
Bikram Vohra
JournalismPakistan.com
May 23, 2013
I don’t do it and I hope you don’t either. But, really, the stupidest thing to do in a given day is to drink and drive. It does not matter whether you are in Dubai or Delhi, Detroit or Dhaka, it is not only asking for trouble but DUI makes you a probable killer.
Yet, people do it. I haven’t had much. If you have had a sip, you have had, read my lips.
I go to Delhi and it is macho to drive that car and sissy of you not to get in with your driver.
Relax, he says, I am in control. No, you are not, you have alcohol in your bloodstream and if you have alcohol in your blood stream you should be anywhere but behind that wheel.
Then, there is this self con called, oh we are only going half a mile. Suffice it to say that 70% of accidents happen within a quarter mile of your residence or workplace.
No big deal, I live down the road…yeah, sure, but you may be facing the end of the road.
What is it about young people they feel justified in playing the odds. Not that stupidity is only their right. I have seen adults, mature and sensible, take chances, after all, that was two hours ago. Sure, but it is still there so who are you kidding but yourself.
While it is bad enough you are putting yourself and innocent others into jeopardy think of the total eclipse of your life as it is if you get caught even in a fender-bender. If you fail a breathalyzer you have had it for good. Everyone will drop you including your bosses. There is no such thing as One tolerance. That is why it is called Zero tolerance.
The reason I write this is a friend of mine’s relative aged 20, came home in Delhi in the early hours of the morning, lit like a lamp, mangled the car, whacked a motorcyclist, and finally slammed into the neighbor’s wall. Daddy’s fault for giving him the car? Maybe.
But don’t blame the car, blame the mindset. Then, wherever you are on the planet, think back just one week and count how many ‘wee bit, can risk it’ incidents there have been. Party smart not stupid.
(The writer is a Senior Editorial Advisor of Khaleej Times and the paper’s former Editor. He has also been the Editor of Gulf News, Gulf Today, Emirates Today and Bahrain Tribune)
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