MADD is MAD for a Reason
Does this scenario sound familiar? Four young military men in a car driving around just as the bars are closing, exams have finished and soon they will all be graduating. Then somehow the vehicle goes out of control and flips into the water, all four pronounced dead at the scene.
Officially, the authorities are not going to ‘speculate’ about the cause of the accident but I guarantee the first action at the autopsy will be a Tox screen for alcohol/drugs to determine the driver’s level of impairment.
Meanwhile, everyone is being polite for the sake of the families. The men are being described as ‘on the cusp of graduation, amazing young adults, heroes‘. Everyone through the Royal Military College leadership, CDS, Premier, MND, to the PM are making the polite remarks while eulogizing their deaths. It’s the well-mannered Canadian way.
It’s wrong.
From MADD Canada’s Statement of Beliefs, ‘Impaired driving crashes are not accidents, but rather the direct result of an individual’s conscious decision to drive after drinking or using drugs.‘
Cars do not flip upside down late at night in a low speed zone all on their own. These men do not deserve lionizing, they deserve to be held up as a cautionary tale.
Here is what the taglines should be saying, ‘The driver irresponsibly operated a motor vehicle in a reckless manner which directly caused the deaths of the vehicle’s four occupants. The passengers themselves did not have the fortitude to demand the driver cease his careless behaviour.’
Having spent plenty of years around irresponsible drunks in the CAF, I can vouch that alcoholism causes many issues. To give the CAF credit, they are attempting to tame the rampant drinking and are making some headway with the newer recruits. But there is still a long ways to go to completely rein in irresponsible drinking.
One way to stop more tragedies like this past incident is to stop calling them ‘accidents‘. These are violent crimes which frequently lead to death. Society does not put up with drunks walking around waving a loaded gun. There are no polite noises when someone gets shot, there is condemnation, and rightly so.
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.