MADD PRESENTATION INCLUDES DRUG ABUSE WITH IMPAIRED DRIVING MESSAGE

Local high school gymnasiums are filled with students every year when
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Kawartha Lakes brings their anti-
drunk driving multimedia presentation on tour.

This year's presentation, called 'Truth,' was held at St. Thomas
Aquinas Catholic Secondary School in Lindsay.

As always, the stories were high-impact, but not all were about kids
killed in car wrecks because they were drinking. This year's
presentation offered a closer look of what can happen even when
walking while impaired, and the devastation of crystal meth addiction.

One girl had gone to a party with friends, and while walking home
with them along a four-lane highway, she was killed trying to cross it.

She was, her mother said, so drunk she couldn't put one foot in front
of the other.

"She had to be held up by her friends. Somebody should have phoned a
taxi, or me. Why didn't they call someone for a ride?"

The mother said her agony was even more painful because she and her
daughter had argued on the phone and her daughter had hung up on her.

"Teenagers and their moms fight all the time," the mother said. "But,
we always think there's going to be a tomorrow."

A man whose nephew was run over and killed by a drunk driver told his
story. The uncle knew the driver and had fixed his car for him. But,
even though he knew the car's owner was drunk, he didn't take the
keys away or make any effort to stop him driving.

He allowed the man to drive away, and that same driver later hit and
killed the man's nephew while the youngster was riding his bike.

The presentation also featured a meth addict, who described in detail
how the drug becomes the centre of the user's world. "You'll do
anything to get high, no matter who you hurt; it's all you think
about all day, every day."

The teenaged sister of a boy killed in a drunk driving crash said,
"The hardest thing is to see kids who were at his funeral still
drinking and driving. They go right back out and do it again."

The father of a boy killed in a drunk driving crash warned groups of
kids drinking at a party often decide "who's the soberest" when
choosing who will drive home. "And, they think it's OK" to pick the
person who's had the least to drink to take the wheel.

As the visual presentation concluded, MADD Kawartha Lakes Chapter
volunteers saved what was arguably the most powerful message for last.

The students were visibly not expecting one of their own to stand up
and tell her story about how one night's partying could have ruined
her life.

Introducing herself as Roxanne, the 15-year-old is a new student at
the school, having transferred recently from Peterborough.

In a quiet, soft voice, she told the audience it was very difficult
for her to stand up in front of them. But, when invited to speak on
behalf of MADD, she agreed, and she shyly took the microphone to
looks of surprise.

Roxanne said she and a group of friends were out for a night's
drinking in one of the teenagers' cars. When it came time to go home,
the boy who owned the car, along with the others, had had far too
much to drink. Roxanne was elected to drive the others home, even
though she, too, had been drinking.

She told how they "took the back roads" to avoid the police, and
suddenly, the car lost control and went into a ditch and flipped
over. Miraculously, the kids weren't seriously hurt.

"We all were able to crawl out of the car," she said. "We weren't
badly hurt, but the car was a write-off."

A woman driving by saw the wreck and stopped to help. She told the
teenagers she was calling emergency services, including police.

"That's when everyone took off, except for me and the guy who owned
the car," Roxanne told a rapt audience.

She described how those involved in the crash later tried to get
their versions straight as the police continued to investigate.

"But, everyone was telling a different story, and the stories got all
mixed up. The police even came to our school to talk to everyone who
was involved."

The teenager's voice wavered as she told of the fear, guilt and shame
she suffered, and how, even though no one was killed or seriously
hurt, it was a tough lesson on the consequences of drinking and driving.