When scoping the roads, the police look for the signs of drunk driving. Some of those signs are subtle, some are obvious.
And once in a while, the signs are flattened.
Recently a woman drove over a street sign at the junction of Mills Road and Ivy Road in Greenville. She was trying to negotiate the roundabout– a roundabout that was placed there less than a year ago to prevent crashes –when she hopped a curb, barrelled over a road sign and continued driving over two flat tires. Eventually she stopped. She told a State Trooper she didn’t remember hitting the road sign.
Signs of Drunk Driving: Obliviousness
This isn’t just an amusing anecdote – it’s a lesson we can stand to learn. A road sign makes a pretty pronounced crunch when you ride over it. It’s a scary sound – or should be – and it’s pretty hard to ignore. A driver who doesn’t hear that is seriously impaired.
And a driver who doesn’t know when she hits a road sign will not know when she hits a child. Alcohol affects more than just coordination – it impairs vision and hearing as well. When alcohol levels are high enough, a person operating a 3,000 pound machine is effectively unaware of his or her surroundings.
Some of the signs of a drunk driver, matched with the impairment that caused it.
- Veering off the center line: a result of decreased concentration and poor vision
- Too wide turning: Impaired tracking ability means the driver can’t judge the car’s position on the road
- Waiting at green light: Alcohol decreases attention span, so a driver can’t keep his or her mind on the task at hand.
- Inconsistent signaling: Drinking also reduces a drivers’ comprehension, so they are likely to make irrational decisions.
There’s a long list of signs that police look for, not that they had to go through too many in this case. The sign on the ground was plenty.
But remember, it’s only funny because the victim was a road sign and not a living soul.
