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# Letter: Drunk driving on the PCH and society's tolerance of it
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/jack-neworth-send-comments-to-editor-smdp-com-laughing-matters-drunk-drivers-are-akin-to-murderers-editor/
- Published: 2007-04-06T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:24:06.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Marilyn Brennan*

So another liquor-guzzling person driving a gas-guzzling SUV decided in the wisdom of their alcohol-clouded mind it was OK to drive on the PCH (“Father, son die on PCH,” April 5). The result is that the world is now deprived of two gifted, contributing individuals.

If the drunk driver turns out to be a rich celebrity, not to worry. A pat on the hand and entrance into a ritzy rehab is all that will happen. Ask Mel (Gibson). If they are regular folks, jail time may be looming. As a former alcohol and drug counselor for 15 years, it still never ceases to amaze me how many alcoholics and drug-impaired individuals still think it’s OK to get behind the wheel of a machine capable of killing people. And since everyone who drinks and has a driver’s license has at one time or another driven a car when they shouldn’t have, it is condoned as not too serious by society.

And you don’t have to be diagnosed as “alcoholic” to act in this dangerous and stupid manner. One or two drinks cloud the judgment, so no, you are not operating on all cylinders, even though you may feel you are capable of getting from point (a) to point (b). And almost everyone who has killed someone says they were not that impaired.

In one state, the police videotaped drivers taking a field sobriety test, and when the case went to court and the driver stated they had very little to drink and were not impaired, the police showed the tape. In every case, the driver was stunned and appalled at the impairment the tape all too clearly showed.

If you buy a gun and shoot someone, you are tried as a murderer. If a driver drinks and drives and kills someone they go to rehab — or if not a celebrity, at most, serve a few years in jail.

The fact that alcohol and other drugs impair you to the point where you are likely to kill someone is common knowledge. So if you drink and get into a vehicle and drive on our streets and highways you are, in my opinion, just as murderous as the individual who gets a gun and shoots someone.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/040607-03_01.jpg)

THIS WAY NORTH: A group doing Nordic Walking may look funny, but it sure is difficult. (Photo: Photo courtesy)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 6, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/040607.pdf?ref=smdp.com)