It has been a long week for Tshepo and finally its Friday. Yes, he gets to unwind, meet friends for happy hour. He meets up with his friends at their usual spot each Friday to talk about how the week had been, to complain and moan about work.
This day was not different from any other Friday; they would meet, have a few drinks and then go home. Because of the fatigue and difficult people that Tshepo was dealing with that week, he was ready to go and throw himself on a bed; hence he decided to leave earlier than usual.
The Peterson family, on the other hand was coming from an evening at a family gathering, and was on their way home. The children in the car were fast asleep, with Mr. Peterson chatting softly to his wife; noticed that there was a car ahead of them that was zigzagging in the middle of the road.
Tshepo didn't realize that he was using his flood light s to drive in a well lit road and didn't notice that he was blinding on coming traffic. Neither was he paying much attention, to what was happening on the road due to the alcohol consumptions.
He sobered up almost immediately when he heard tires skidding and people screaming around him. A loud thud brought him back to reality. The family driving the other car was blinded so much by Tshepo’s car that they failed to maneuver a turn and their car vied off the road. It somersaulted several times before it stopped on its back.
The whole Peterson family died on the spot and Tshepo only had a few cuts and bruises.
This is a typical example of how some not so usual Friday nights are like.
We are so consumed by alcohol that we don't notice so many fatalities along the roads. Innocent people die or have fatal injuries because someone decided to drive while under the influence. Yes we can be lucky on other occasions that we do not get involved in accidents but there is that one fateful day when just one mistake can be fatal to innocent people.
Lets be careful when driving during the night because no matter how many warning people get about drunk driving, there will always be others that will not stop doing it. They will not take necessary precautions when they are going or coming from their happy hours.
If you feel that you have had more to drink please take a cab home.
And the police should not be lenient with drunk drivers.
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