By Lola Waheed
On Sunday, September 27th, 2015, there was a collision between an SUV and minivan in Vaughan. Daniel Neville-Lake (9), his brother, Harrison (5), sister Milly (2), and grand-father, Gary Neville (65) were killed. The children’s grandmother and great-grandmother were also in the vehicle, and are currently in stable condition. According to a CBC news report, the driver of the SUV, Marco Muzzo is currently facing 18 charges including four counts of impaired driving resulting in death. (CBC 2015)
Personally, this hits home for me. For our Sweet Life Roadshow, I am currently trained on the impaired driving station, in which I discuss the importance of not drinking and driving and being mindful of how long it takes for person to become sober before driving again. Upon returning from our Northern Tour trip, hearing the news of this crash has really had an effect on me – not only because I had been discussing the topic for the past week, but because those children went to the same elementary school that my sister and I attended. For their lives to be taken so abruptly is a tough thing to process, especially when something like this is so preventable.
According to data from MADD, in Canada, around 87% of impaired drivers are male and the majority of crashes occur on the weekend. The legal amount of alcohol a person can have in their system is 0.08% Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) level. When we hear about stories like this, we often wonder what the driver was thinking. Don’t drink and drive is the ultimate rule of road safety that we are always told. So how could he have been so careless? Why was he drinking during the middle of the day? Why didn’t he have a designated driver? That’s a harsh reality that Mr. Muzzo will now have to live with.
During the introduction of the Sweet Life Roadshow, the founder of Teens Learn to Drive, Anne-Marie Hayes, always says “Each one you deserves a sweet life and good life.” There’s great truth in that. Taking risks like this are not worth potentially ruining your life. The reality is that this tragedy is a lose-lose case. There are no winners. Four people lost their lives, and their families will never recover. Another man is facing harsh consequences and will remember that terrible decision for the rest of his life. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families deeply affected by this tragedy, and hope that people begin to realize that drinking and driving isn’t worth ruining lives.
