Driving Under the Influence: Loaded Gun Complex
June 25, 2009
Fresno - On the news last June 24, 2009 was a multiple car crash collision that killed three people and injured four other people.
Willie Rivera was like a loaded gun when he got behind the wheel of his truck even while under the influence. He wrecked havoc at an intersection when his truck sideswiped a Ford pick-up before hitting a Honda Civic. A Daewoo Sedan also got caught up in the crash.
The three passengers in the Honda Civic were killed, its driver suffered major injuries and was taken to Community Regional Medical Center. The driver of the Ford, his passenger and the driver of the Daewoo received minor injuries.
Rivera, who is his early 20s was arrested on charges of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence.
Thirty-two percent of all fatal crashes involved alcohol-impaired driving, where the highest blood alcohol concentration (BAC) among drivers involved in the crash was .08 grams per deciliter (g/dL) or higher.
Driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs is a crime as all 50 states and the District of Columbia have laws that punish drivers with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at or above a proscribed level of 0.08 percent.
Intoxication or alcohol involvement accounts for a high number of impaired driving crashes. Despite laws that punish such criminal and reckless behavior, there is still an arrest rate of 1 for every 139 licensed drivers in the United States.
Driving under the influence is like a having loaded gun—it puts everyone in immediate danger. An impaired driver is less likely to have the focus and the reflexes needed to make good driving decisions.
Rivera, at the young age of 20, will now have to live with the burden of having taken three lives. What happened is very much like pulling him pulling a trigger right in front of their faces—getting behind the wheel drunk, inebriated or under the influence is certainly no accident.
