Failing to plan is planning to fail.
In a perfect world, we would have the ability to go back in time after we either made a decision we later regretted. We all make mistakes, but if we could limit the mistakes to something less important or less serious, all would be good. But that’s not always the case. It never has been and never will be. It’s not as easy as hitting the reset button like on a video game or computer. What’s done is done.
Planning for the future is something we tried to do as teens and something parents attempt to help their kids when it comes to their future in education, career, job or even planning how to save for retirement. As adults, we hope to have planned for the distant future as well, but maybe we’ve planned far in the distant future. Perhaps we need to make other plans when it comes to making safe, logical choices when it comes to safely getting home after drinking. A short-term plan.
We get caught up with the good times of socializing with friends or family and the next thing we realize, we’ve had a few more drinks than we originally had planned. So now what? Do we attempt to drive slowly enough not to draw attention to ourselves? Do we take the back roads away from the RIDE programs? Since the alcohol in our body affects our decision-making, it’s unlikely we’re thinking clearly enough to make safe choices as we head home.
Watching and reading the news, we hear too much about impaired driving. It’s either the police have arrested an impaired driver on a community RIDE program or after a crash has happened or other arrests related to their actions. None of this has to happen. It’s unfortunate those drivers failed to plan. They failed to plan their way home after consuming alcohol. They may have thought they were fine, but an impaired person’s judgement is also impaired, not just their reaction time. There are an easy fixes to this problem.
If you can’t plan alternate rides home after drinking, for whatever reason, you need to know you are sober to get home. That’s where Not Your Child Corp comes in. Using any one of their single-use breathalyzers can give you a very good idea whether you should wait or if it’s okay to drive. It leaves the guesswork out of it. It’s that easy. Too bad those drivers couldn’t go back in time to change the outcome. Life is not a video game.
With that being the case, it’s important to make the safest, most correct choices as often as possible. In a one-word explanation, it could be called “adulting”. Sometimes you have to take a moment before deciding what your options could be. But that’s okay to do that. It’s considered the smart way to make tough decisions. However, some decisions really should not be that difficult. No, this isn’t a guilt trip. It’s a reality check.
When there are easy and safe solutions to avoid driving after drinking, you don’t have the ability to go back in time. Using single-use breathalyzers from Not Your Child Corp means you never have to. As they say “When you feel different, you drive different. Drive sober.” Perfect words to remember but remember those words before you begin to drink.
Scott Marshall has spent over 30 years promoting road safety in many jurisdictions. He has been a road safety journalist since 2005. Scott was also an on-air judge on the Discovery Network’s Canada’s Worst Driver during their first 3 seasons on the air. Not YourChildCorp. is proud to have Scott @Safedriver as a frequent contributor, his insights are irreplaceable.
