Here’s What To Do When Your Drunk Friend Insists On Driving Home
The two men in a Perodua Myvi were pinned to their seats after the vehicle fell off the roadside cliff.
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Two men died after the Perodua Myvi vehicle they were travelling in was hit in a head-on collision with a BMW on Sungai Lokan Road on 16 December around 2.30am.
The driver and passenger of the Perodua Myvi, Muhammad Ahsan Mohamed Ayub, 32, and Muhammad Fakhrul Rodzi Fauzi, 31, died at the scene. Both men, who were friends and teachers, died due to severe injuries.
The accident occurred when the BMW driver, travelling from Sungai Lokan towards Kepala Batas, lost control of the vehicle before colliding with the Perodua Myvi travelling from the opposite direction.
Kepala Batas Fire and Rescue Station Chief of Operations Nazril Syazwan Khalil said firefighters found that the Myvi had fallen off the roadside cliff with the two men still inside the vehicle.
The bodies were sent to Seberang Jaya Hospital for a post-mortem examination. The BMW driver escaped unhurt and had been remanded by the police.
A breathalyser test using the EBA-II device showed that the 46-year-old BMW driver had alcohol levels exceeding the permissible limit.
The case is being investigated under Section 44(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987.
What to do when someone is drunk and wants to drive
Stopping a friend from drunk driving is an important and responsible thing to do. It’s not easy to change a drunk person’s mind but here are a few things you can do:
- Choose a designated driver before the drinking starts. It’s also better to decide early that you’ll take an e-hailing ride home when drunk rather than driving under the influence.
- Try talking to the person who’s drunk in a calm and soothing voice. If possible, take them aside to convince them not to drive drunk. You don’t want to embarrass them in front of other people or else it’ll get tougher to change their stubborn minds.
- If that doesn’t work, take away their car keys. You might need to devise creative ways or excuses to get their keys from them. Get your group of friends for support too.
- Call them a cab or an e-hailing ride home. An alternative is to drive your friend and their car home if you’re not intoxicated yourself. You can also have another sober friend follow you in your car so both of you can return to the party after making sure the drunk friend is home safe.
- Worse come to worse, as a last resort, you might need to involve the police to temporarily “hold” your friend until they sober up.
Whatever happens, drunk people should never drive themselves or others home.
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