The Question Is Why??

As I'm sure most of you know, there was a horrible accident at the top of Ryan Hill yesterday involving three vehicles. A jeep driven by a drunk teenager, along with a few more passengers, ran a red light and hit two trucks. Two teens were thrown from the jeep, one of them (Kevin Baker) died on scene. I believe two were sent to Vancouver hospital for serious but not life threatening injuries, and four are in St. Josephs with minor injuries. The jeep was believed to have flipped over, the windshield is smashed and the body is badly misshapen. The hood appeared to have been peeled off of one pickup truck that came to a stop about 50 feet away from the jeep, while the driver's side of the third truck had been caved in and had to be opened with the Jaws of Life.

It's just so hard to comprehend, especially with the big accident last month. This one was different though because alcohol was involved. I don't understand why people drink and drive. I just don't understand why people drink at all. My mom, being the youth counselor at Highland, got these goggles that have been "blurred" to what it would look like at different levels of alcohol in your blood. I tried them on and it was crazy. The highest one (i can't remember the percentage) was next to unbearable! I felt sick to my stomach. I wouldn't want to even move like that, forget about driving! There's so many people who drink that think its fine and don't pay any attention to it. "I'm a great driver" or "I'm not going that far, it'll be fine" or "I only had a little to drink" or "It's only one extra person, no big deal". They don't realize this is the kind of mistake that destroys lives. You hear it in the news, statistics, people getting badly injured or killed. Because of what? Because of drivers who don't take the matter seriously enough. Alcohol slows down your reflexes and even just a split second decision while driving could cost someone their lives. And its not just the people in the vehicle that are in danger, its people in other vehicles or pedestrians. Why wait until something happens to stop drinking? Why take the risk? It's not worth it.

RIP Kevin Richard Baker


Here's the link to more pictures of the crash scene. I warn you though, they are not pleasant.
http://www.canada.com/comoxvalleyecho/galleries/comox_dec05/index.html