I wasn't going to share this, but if this serves as a lesson for someone, here it goes:
I had a DWI in the last 5 years. In a nutshell:
Was
home one night having a nice red wine, when i received a text from
friend begging me to meet him at a bar. Drove to the bar where i met him
and had a few beers, followed by stumbling on folks i knew which
insisted on some shots, followed by a few more beers.
At the
end of the night, fully aware that i was over the limit, i made the
terrible decision to drive home, after all, i was only 10 minutes
away.... right?
Got in my car and got on the road and within 30
seconds there was a fork on the road. I simply could not remember which
way i should take. If i had taken right, it would have been a short
straight drive home. I took the left. This took me to the center of some
town i was not familiar with.
Here i was... 3 am, lost, and
fully aware i was drunk behind the wheel. Common sense says... stop,
cut your losses and call a cab, right? Not for me, i evidently insisted
on f*cking up that night. Instead i kept driving, looking in a panic for
the way back to the road i knew. About a mile later, i could see some
cars behind me on my mirror but seemed fairly certain it was not a cop
car. Then i realized i shouldn't take an exit and crossed over a solid
line to the center lane to go straight.
As the blinking lights of a
police car began to flicker on my rear view mirror, i knew already i
was going to have a very long night... and i did.
Most people don't realize all the repercussions of a DWI:
7 months without a license, followed by 1 year of a breathalyzer
installed in my car. My insurance dropped me immediately after this, and
the new rates were very high. I couldnt rent a car except for one
company which doesn't check driving record. I had to pay 1000/year motor
vehicle surcharge for 3 years. I even heard that I can potentially be blocked at the border if i try to visit Canada.
The
only positive thing about this, is that I happen to live in a state
where a DWI is not a criminal offense, but only a traffic ticket, so my
criminal record is still clean.
Please don't make the same mistake folks.
