Drinking and Driving

It was a Saturday in September 1969, we had picked up some burgers and gone to my parent’s house to eat there and spend some time with Mom and Dad before going to Joyce and Ted’s house later that evening. With Eva and me working during the week, we tried to get in our family visits on Saturdays. It was still daylight as we were driving on Little York Road when out of nowhere a car came running through a stop sign at Seven Mile Ln and hit our car broadside on the driver’s side. The impact was so violent that it knocked our car completely off Little York and into the ditch about 75 feet down Seven Mile.

Eva had been holding Tammy in her lap at the time of the accident, and all three of us were in shock. Tammy was screaming and shaking all over and Eva was trying to find out if she was injured. It was clear that our car was totaled because the car was crushed in almost a “V” shape from the impact. All three of us were taken to the Heights Hospital where we all had X-rays and were examined by a doctor. I had some bruises and three broken teeth and Tammy had some scrapes and bruises, but she was still very upset and crying. Eva had several bruises and some skin cuts; however, our biggest concern was that she was about 6 weeks pregnant at that point. We were so concerned that she could lose the baby.

We learned that the other driver was drunk and had passed out when he hit our car. It was estimated that he was going over 50 mph when he hit our car and he had not touched the brakes. He was driving a full-size Oldsmobile and when it hit our 1968 Plymouth Valiant, it knocked our car through the air landing in the deep ditch. He had Allstate insurance and when I contacted them, they assured me they would take care of all of the costs including the car and medical bills. They wanted to settle and close the case as soon as possible. I refused and told them I would not settle until after the baby was born and I knew the baby was ok.

I had my teeth capped and Eva went to see her OB on the regular schedule unless she felt something that concerned her. Truth is, both of us worried right up to Jennifer’s birth on April 28 that there could be an undetected problem. You tell yourself that it is in God’s hands and everything will be alright, but then you know how hard we were hit and the stage of the baby at that point. We were so happy to know we had another baby girl and could put the accident behind us.

When I contacted Allstate about settling the case, they told me they were not responsible for the costs of the accident. They said the car he was driving was not covered on his policy and that his coverage was with them but through the Assigned-risk pool for bad drivers. My insurance company had been paying many of the bills during the period after the accident, but they told me that I needed to hire a lawyer that could fight our case. By this time it had been almost a year since the accident and I was now facing the battle in court. At that point, I made a decision that even if my life depended on it, I would never do business with Allstate.

Before any agreement or offer was made to settle my case, the other driver’s DWI case came up in criminal court. The police officer that had worked the accident and written the DWI ticket met with me before the case started in court. He told me the details he submitted and that this was the driver’s 3^rd DWI. He had been convicted in the first two cases, and he was still driving. He told me that the DA’s office had agreed to a plea deal that I would not like. His lawyer told the Judge how sorry his defendant was and that he was going to get help. The lawyer went on to say that he was going to work to ensure that the victim’s family was being taken care of. The Judge asked if anyone from that family was in the courtroom. I stood up and said yes sir. He asked if they had paid my bills and taken care of all of the issues and I told him, they had not paid $1 dollar and no effort to help. The Judge ordered a $100 fine. The lawyer asked for 90 days for the fine to be paid and the Judge agreed.

It took another 9 months of fighting before my lawyer finally told me we needed to settle that case. After paying my lawyer, I think we received about $200 more than our medical bills, and no way to really know how much we lost on the car. We had only had it about a year and it had about 6,000 miles on it and it had been specially ordered from the factory with what we wanted for Eva’s first new car. She was so proud of that car.

That accident made me take notice of how bad our DWI laws were with so little punishment for those that are repeat offenders. That made a believer out of me and I always tell people the danger of drinking and then driving. Those memories kept me awake many nights and I will take them to my grave.