Alcohol
Riding with a drunk driver

Do you ride in cars when the driver has been drinking alcohol? Sarah wants you to stop and think before doing it again.

By age 15, Sarah was warned many times: don't drink and drive. But like most kids, she thought bad things happened only to other people.

One night, she partied with older kids. Sarah didn't drink alcohol that evening, but in order to make curfew, she rode with a guy who did.

"He started going very fast and fishtailing," Sarah says. "That's when all of a sudden it clicked: I've made a major mistake. I started screaming at the top of my lungs: 'Slow down, slow down, slow down!' But he didn't."

The crash smashed the right side of the car. Other passengers survived unhurt, but Sarah was nearly killed. "If I had not been wearing the seatbelt," she says, "I would have gone through the windshield and died."

Sarah's badly bruised brain kept her in a coma for three weeks. She would spend many months in rehab, relearning simple tasks: tying shoes, brushing teeth, and eating with silverware.

"My dad helped me with physical therapy," she says. "He helped me first learn how to walk. Gradually, he helped me start to run again."

Sarah had to learn to talk again, too. She speaks more slowly now, and sometimes slurs her words. At school, Sarah notices that kids seem to have difficulty in facing her. It's as if she's a disturbing reminder of what can happen when you mix driving with alcohol.

Sarah wants to play that role for kids when she speaks on behalf of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD). "I want them to hear and understand," she says.

Seeing Sarah live with limitations may help other kids make choices that keep them safe.