Drunken driving not the key to graduation

Drunken driving kills one person every 32 minutes.

The Victim's Impact Panel of Oklahoma Inc. is a program designed to prevent drunken driving through testimonial presentations. The individuals speaking to the audience have been affected forever by fatal incidents of alcohol and vehicle operation.

On Wednesday the Victim's Impact Panel presented their program at the Seretean Wellness Center to promote Alcohol Awareness Week.

The first panelist, Jory Jaques, 35, from Shidler, told how his experience related to drinking and driving has impacted his life tremendously, as he "distinctly remembered running over and crushing the victim on the motorcycle with my truck," describing how that was the "most cataclysmic thing and the worst feeling" he had ever experienced."

Jaques told the audience that he took everything that man had in "one split second simply because of the choice I made of driving under the influence."

Jaques emphasized the point that college students seem to think the worst case scenario is getting stopped by the police and paying outrageous expenses, when in reality sacred human lives are at risk the second a drunken person sits behind the wheel.

It's just not worth it" Jaques said. Jaques served 20 years in jail and continues to voluntarily speak at VIP to this day.

The second panelist, Judge Elliot, 58, from Blair, has not only spent more than 19 years on the VIP, but also served as Jaque's judge from his DUI episode.

Elliott said, "At this point in your young life, there are crossroads and with those crossroads come a plethora of choices to be made."

Forty-eight years ago, at 3 a.m. on a rainy Thursday morning, ten-year-old Elliott received news from a highway trooper that his grandparents were both killed by a drunk driver.

Elliot's parents rushed to the emergency room only to find that the bodies of his grandparents were "mangled and unrecognizable."

"Don't be the person that made us feel the way we did about our lost ones," Elliott said. "It was not an accident, but a drunken conscious decision that the driver had complete control over if he had just not took the driver seat."

The Victim's Impact Panel stresses the importance that drunken driving is the number one killer of young people.

Further, VIP shows there is a cure that can affect and impact lives.

"We're not here to preach and tell students not to drink because they are old enough to make their own decisions, but instead we're here to tell you to make responsible choices by simply being safe and finding a sober ride home," said Kari Pratt, health educator of University Health Services.

"Be safe and remember it's not just a choice that affects you, but innocent people who may not be as lucky as you."