Drink-driving wrecks so many lives (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Drink-driving wrecks so many lives

8:47am Monday 28th May 2012 in Our View By Telegraph & Argus

The absolute irresponsibility of driving while under the influence of drink and drugs could not be more clearly illustrated than by the tragic case we report today.

Dean Coleman spent the evening drinking in a pub and was well above the legal drink drive limit when he drove home in the early hours of the morning. He also tested positive for cocaine use.

Reaching speeds of over 80mph in a 30mph zone, the car ploughed into a shop, badly injuring Coleman and killing his friend, Christopher Wallace.

That decision to drive home in spite of the alcohol he had consumed means that a young man who was just 20 lost his life, leaving his family – already grieving for Christopher’s older brother Nicky who died a few months earlier – completely bereft.

It left Coleman himself with severe injuries and it has left him with the knowledge that his irresponsible behaviour cost the life of his friend – something that will be on his conscience for the rest of his life.

It has also cost him his freedom. But as Judge Bartfield said when sentencing him, that is no compensation at all for the loss of Christopher Wallace to his family – something no jail sentence could have done.

The dangers of drink-driving are constantly forced home through campaigns and hard-hitting adverts on television and in newspapers. But the family of Christopher Wallace have seen first-hand how driving when under the influence of alcohol can cause untold suffering and tear a family apart. Anyone who believes they can drink and drive and get away with it needs to look at how this case has wrecked so many lives.