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Jacqui Saburido is one of the most well-known drunk driving victims in the country. In September of 1999, Jacqui and four friends were headed home from a party when a drunk driver hit their car. Two passengers died at the scene and Jacqui was badly burned after the car caught fire. Her story and her courage to tell it attracted national and international attention. In the nearly 15 years since the accident, Jacqui has spoken to numerous reporters and groups to help people understand the consequences of drunk driving.

JacquiJacqui is also prominently featured on facesofdrunkdriving.com—a new website launched in June by the Texas Department of Transportation. The site shares the stories of over a dozen DUI victims, their families, and offenders—often in their own words—as well as before and after images of victims. According to TxDOT spokesperson Raquelle Lewis, “There were more than 25,000 alcohol-related crashes in our state in 2012. The numbers alone can’t describe the impact of these crashes on individuals and their families.” TxDOT hopes the site will get drivers to think twice before getting behind the wheel while intoxicated, to plan their transportation before drinking, and to use a designated driver.

Story-telling and sympathy can be very powerful tools to encourage people to reconsider their behaviors. Each year, thousands of high schools and colleges bring drunk driving victims or their families in to speak to students, and many jurisdictions require DWI offenders to attend Victims’ Impact Panels. The expectation is that attendees will be moved by what they hear and refrain from impaired driving or reoffending.

Putting victims’ stories online seems to be an obvious approach to make them accessible to a wider audience. Indeed, MADD regularly posts stories on their blog. But the effectiveness of using technology to tell them is open for debate. Websites require viewers to actively search out information and engage with it. Simply making victims’ stories available may not be enough. Arguably, readers who are likely to look for or click on stories like Jacqui’s have a certain level of awareness about the issue and are already inclined to not drink and drive.

In addition, some question the impact of victims’ stories on changing the decisions of hardcore drunk drivers, who are most likely to be involved in accidents resulting in a fatality. These drivers are often already aware of the potential consequences of impaired driving, sometime from first-hand experience. The case of Dawn Vrentas is a tragic example. Vrentas was pulled over in Seattle last week with a blood alcohol concentration nearly twice the legal limit. Her arrest came almost exactly ten years after she caused a drunk driving crash that killed two of her friends.

Hardcore drunk drivers often have serious alcohol dependency or addiction issues. The American Society of Addiction Medicine notes that addiction is a disease “characterized by inability to consistently abstain, impairment in behavioral control, craving, diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships, and a dysfunctional emotional response.” In short, individuals locked in a struggle with addiction often make poor and even life-threatening choices—against all logic and emotional appeals.

What role do you think victims’ stories play in dissuading people from driving while impaired? When and where are they most impactive? And can websites and social media be effective ways to present such stories?

Sobering Up Administrator

Sobering Up Administrator

Sobering Up: A blog about drunk driving, alcohol addiction, and criminal justice, is anything but a corporate blog. Sobering Up is an opportunity for anyone interested or involved in the issues of drunk driving, alcohol-fueled crime, alcohol dependence and addiction, and the justice system to participate in the conversation.

6 Comments

  1. Let’s try everything possible to bring awareness to the DWI problem in this country. Online. Victim Impact Panels. Bottom line, we need to continue to focus on the hardcore drunk drivers — and figure out a way to stop drivers from becoming hardcore drunk drivers. A dent has been made on the DWI problem, but there’s still a long way to go. God bless the DWI crash survivors that get up every day and fight the fight. They keep the fire lit for all of us.

  2. I have been trying to bring awareness since my Family was damn near wiped out. That was on Dec.29,1977 prevail .Even recently I was told to “STOP” Talking about it, it’s all you ever talk about.

    Bill Dikant, D.W.I. Victim Advocate,
    Castleton,N.Y. 12033 E-mail courtcop12033@yahoo.com Google the name.

  3. I agree with the article that most people with drinking and driving issues will not be searching for this information. I think a better way to get it across is in Facebook, like how they have advertisements on the side. Posting pics like the one above in places where people will run into them and have something to click on if they want to go further I think would be the place to start.

  4. Jenny, I have been using ‘Facebook” as a means of awareness for a long time. Any awareness articles I speak about rarely get more than 3 or 4 replies. Animals have a larger draw . Google the name!.

  5. I am a victim of a sloppy drunk driver. I have been emotionally traumatized and too afraid to drive ever since because I now have a serious fear of being hit again. I haven’t driven in a year. I have my groceries delivered. I can’t live like this any more and have been searching and searching online for support groups for victims hoping to find how others have dealt with the trauma/fear.

    By any chance, would you happen to know of any online support groups, discussion groups, etc. ? If so, I would truly appreciate it if you would share the web links.

    Thank you so much,
    Shirley

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