An alcoholic deserving the Darwin Award survives
Amazing Antics: Stories of Alcoholism-Driven Behaviors
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Story from This is True by Randy Cassingham, with “tagline:”
“DON’T MAKE ME COME BACK THERE: Police investigating the cause of a single-vehicle accident in Amherst, N.Y., were perplexed by what they found: both occupants, a husband and wife, were unconscious, and both were in the back seat — no one was behind the wheel. Officers arrested Tiber L. Csapo Jr., 39, after his wife woke up and told them that he was beating her as he drove. She tried to escape by jumping into the back seat but Csapo followed, and the driverless car then crashed. Csapo was charged with driving while intoxicated, second-degree assault and felony reckless endangerment. (Buffalo News) …And felony backseat driving.”
This is one of those stories that would have made a great “Darwin Award” if he hadn’t survived, given to those who do humanity a favor by taking themselves out of the gene pool. It’s also one where we don’t need any other clues to identify addiction, even without an arrest for DUI. Either the Blood Alcohol Level might have been several times the legal limit, or there was a hodgepodge of drugs in his system for behavior this bizarre to occur. Clues to a problem likely occurred early on in the driving – crossing over lines, tailgating and failing to yield the right of way among them – things to watch for as we keep ourselves safe from DUIs this holiday season.
Bear in mind that 10% of drivers, the DUIs and likely addicts, are responsible for almost 50% of on-road carnage and that because very few non-addicts drive with a BAL over the legal limit, the 10% are almost all alcohol and other drug addicts. Worse, if these addicts drive an estimated 20% of road miles while under the influence (a reasonable guesstimate), we can conclude that 2% of road miles driven account for almost 50% of road fatalities. Keep yourselves safe this holiday season by heeding the warning signs!
(“This is True” is copyright 2004 by Randy Cassingham, used with permission. See http://www.thisistrue.com for free subscriptions.)