The Collegian
Friday, November 22, 2024
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Opinion

Letter: Response to "Escaping tickets..."

Dear Collegian Staff,

I recently read Fiona Carmody's article entitled "Escaping tickets never seemed so impossible." I have so many problems with this article that I cannot type fast enough.

The most notable issue is Fiona's surprising willingness to admit and broadcast her erratic driving habits. Sure, everyone speeds from time to time, but I find the casual manner in which she discusses drinking and driving both disturbing and morally reprehensible. Is Ms. Carmody not the same writer who spoke so matter-of-factly about the consequences of smoking marijuana? Just so I'm properly understanding, we should all deter from (as well as look down upon) those who choose to use pot, but when it comes to putting other people's lives in danger by driving drunk THIS is perfectly within reason?! I want to believe that this is a joke. I neither advocate nor discourage the use of marijuana. I am in no position to tell people what substances they should or should not use. Frankly, neither is Fiona. But I am completely within my right to judge and condemn someone who has had their "fair share of alcoholic drinks before getting behind the wheel." She tries to soften the gravity of her admission with an insufficient disclaimer.

That's another problem I have. She claims remorse for her actions while simultaneously implying that she has committed this crime on more than one occasion. Shame does not go hand in hand with repeated careless action. "There are just too many cops around right now. In theory I support their cause, but in practice -- well, I can only pay for so many tickets." So you support the law as long as it isn't applied to you? I cannot be the only one who finds it painfully ironic that this student is the same person who preached to us about marijuana use, a subject that she clearly knows little-to-nothing about.

Even if Fiona had not written the previously mentioned article on weed, I would still find this freshly published article to be upsetting. In the United States, 25,000 people die annually as a result of drunk driving. How many people die every year due to marijuana-related incidents? The former statistic does not include those who are needlessly harmed in drunk-driving accidents. That number also doesn't represent the people who die as a result of reckless driving, an activity that Fiona also apparently frequents. Don't get me started on the fact that she has the audacity to complain about having to face the monetary consequences of acting thoughtless.

I do not wish to distract from the main point of my response, but I also find it offensive, on the behalf of all Richmond students with legitimate financial concerns, that Fiona is, in essence, complaining about the financial setbacks of acting irresponsible and disrespectful.

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