On 4-16-85 I bought my first brand new car at the age of 19 it had 12 miles on it. A drunk driver almost totaled it less than 1 month later with less than 100 miles. On 5-11-85 I left work at 11:30 PM and at 11:37 PM I was 3 miles down the road when I was stopped at a red-light... When I pulled out from the light I got about 1 car length when all of a sudden THUMP! I hadn't a clue what had just happened and in a split second I looked out my windshield to see a man laying face down with his shins on my windshield!!!!! Yes, I know that seems impossible but it's the truth. I was in a state of shock. I just sat there for a second numb all over, and then I panicked and pulled over into a parking lot of "Sister's Chicken Restaurant". When I turned my wheel I ran over something, what??? I didn't know at this point.

This whole time felt like an eternity to me when in reality it was only a few seconds. Witnesses except for one part, which is coming up, pretty much have filled in the rest of the story for me. The next thing I know a very large man came and jerked open my car door and pulled me out and held me from the back with a bag over my face because I was hyperventilating. I had no idea who this Angel was, but he saved my life that night. He took me into "Sister's Chicken Restaurant" and sat me at a table and just held me, never letting go. Another employee got my purse and got my contact number and called my mother, just telling her that I was involved in an accident and had a head injury.

My Mother beat the ambulance there from about 7 miles away and the hospital was like 3 miles away. My Mother surely beat all speed limits, which could've resulted in her death. During this period I was still very upset and all I could think about was that I ran over a guy. I just knew he was dead. The guy who was holding the bag over my face kept reassuring me that he wasn't dead and that I was in worse shape than he was. I of course didn't believe him because I knew he wouldn't want to upset me further. Then the ambulance was there outside with him lying there on the ground and then all of a sudden he got up and was pacing. Then my mind snapped back into reality and I was PISSED that he wrecked my new car.

When they took me outside to put me in the ambulance all he kept saying was "Where's my bike"? "Where's my bike"? He came complete with leather and chains on his boots. He told the police that I was drinking and hit him when he pulled out of "Wendy's" drive-thru. This really made me mad. I told the police and so did my Mother that I had just left work and they could verify it. The Officer looked at me and said "Ma'am we know who's been drinking and who hasn't". This made me feel better. It turns out that he pulled out and hit my driver's side front panel and somehow landed face down on my hood and when I pulled the car over into the parking lot he rolled off onto his backside/back and busted the 5th he had stored there. Can you say STITCHES!?

And when I pulled over, I ran over the 85 Harley. Turns out he spent several days in the hospital with a concussion and was cited something terrible. I only got a cut on my forehead and on my right forearm and was very sore. The cut on my forearm left a scar and is numb when touched. The insurance company tried and tried to make it my fault. They said they weren't gonna fix my car blah blah and I said, "fine, OK, no problem. I will see you in court!" They soon sang a different tune.

They had my car for several weeks fixing it, turned out it was only a couple hundred dollars from being totaled and I could have pressed the issue and they may have just marked it down as a loss but I didn't know this. I never sued the guy, I just wanted my car like it was, well, it never was I always had problems out of it up until I traded it in on another one. I was supposed to take a co-worker of mine home that night and he had waited around a couple of hours for me to go off work. About 15-20 mins before I punched out his Brother happened to stop off and took him home. I thanked God Barry wasn't in the car with me and was safe. It's hard to tell what may have happened.

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In 1983 during Bike Week in Daytona Beach, Florida my family and I went on a 2 week vacation. The second day after we were there my at the time Boyfriend and my older brother rented beach bikes and were told not to take them on the highway just beach riding only. They both knew this. My Mother, younger Brother and myself were driving my boyfriend's camaro when I thought I saw my B/F running by the intersection, well we had heard the ambulances and police cars but of course never dreamed they were there for my Brother. I yelled at him and he came running over to the car and took us on the road where all the medical personnel were...

They took the bikes and were riding on the road when a drunk driver in a car decided to run the red light.. Well, this is going to sound really really strange but because my Brother was in the back and was in much better physical shape than my B/F he had better reflexes and was able to move his leg out of the way. Had my B/F been in the back God only knows what would have happened to him or my Brother. My Brother rolled I can't remember how far, but it was a LONG way and it tore chuncks out of his safety helmet and tore the hide right off of most of his body.

The driver took off in the opposite direction and there was a convoy of people tracking him down to bring him back to the scene.. There was a police officer that was from our home state (West Virginia) who happened to be the one who brought the guy back. They arrested him and my Brother spent the next 13 days stretched spread eagle on the bed and at the hospital getting his wounds taken care of. My B/F had to even help him urinate. In order for us to have sued the drunk, we would have had to have gone to all the court dates and such in Florida. We didn't pursue it. I had to buy him a souvenir.... It was a coffee mug that said "I survived Bike Week Daytona 1983"! I meant it literally for him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Below you will find some wonderful, yet heart breaking stories/pictures of the aftermath of drinking and driving. Please have a box of tissues handy, you will need them.