Drinking and Driving in Arizona

Daughter of a Capitol Collision’s Owner Uses Lessons She’s Learned about Collision Repair and Drunk Driving to Send a Message to Teens

As spring sets in and the prom and graduation season approaches schools realize the need for education about drunk driving. Teaching their students about the realities of alcohol combined with impaired driving and its consequences can be a tough feat. But when done correctly can impact a student’s life, and spread to the friends and family around them helping them make better decisions and hopefully avoid the wrong one when getting behind a wheel.

Heidi Deary, daughter of Dan Deary, owner of the Phoenix Auto Body Shop, Capitol Collision Repair, writes about how a High School presentation has changed her view on drunk driving, and its harsh realities. Hoping to reach other teens with a message about the dangers of drinking and driving, we here at Capitol Collision are posting this letter written by Heidi explaining her concerns about drunk driving and what she has learned from her experience. Dan Deary, states: “I started Capitol Collision 25 years ago so Heidi grew up around the body shop” Deary continues, “At first we kept her away from the gruesome piles of metal that used to be cars before their collision. But as she got closer to the age of driving or even riding in cars with other teenage friends driving, I was glad that she was becoming aware of the consequences associated with auto accidents” In an interview with Deary, he stated that 90% of the work they perform at his auto body shop is major collision repair. “The way cars are designed these days with crumple zones to absorb the impact of a collision, we don’t see too many minor bumper repairs. Sometimes the cars look like the accident was a lot worse than it probably was, but sometimes you can tell someone got hurt. Every once in a while cars come in from a collision sealed up with the Hazmat stickers meaning someone died, it’s hard not to be affected by everything, especially with a daughter getting closer to the age of driving. You’d be surprised by a number of times we come across alcohol bottles or beer can people have hidden.” Dan is very proud of what his daughter has learned and hopes to share her message with a wider audience benefiting more young people during this festive season. The following is a letter written by Heidi Deary: “The Hard Truth” By Heidi Deary As a high school junior, and the daughter of an auto body shop owner, I am well aware of car accidents that students have. At my dad’s body shop, Capitol Collision Repair, I have seen a lot of badly wrecked cars. I was, however, not ready for “The Hard Truth” and just how much of an impact the following would have on me. On a Thursday morning, hundreds of juniors and seniors were told to sit on the bleachers of the football field to watch a very special presentation. On the football field, there were police officers and firemen and a blue tarp covering two vehicles that were facing each other. The presentation we were about to see was about the dangers of drinking and driving to help us in making decisions, not just for Prom Night in the coming week, but in our futures as well. I had no idea how much this presentation would impact me, I find myself thinking about it very often. The information I gained from it has helped me better myself when to make decisions. The head police officer started off the presentation by telling us the scary statistics about auto accidents of teenage drivers and then telling us they would be showing us a mock collision to portray exactly what happens when a car accident occurs and the dangers of mixing alcohol and driving. Suddenly, the loud speakers blasted with the sounds of two cars colliding and the police officers pulled a tarp off, to reveal two very damaged vehicles that have been involved in a collision. Instantly, police cars, an ambulance and fire trucks with sirens blaring, entered the football field. They stopped at the scene of the accident, got out of their vehicles, and rushed to the cars to perform the necessary procedures taken when called out to the scene of an auto accident. Inside the two cars were teenage students still dressed up for their “Prom.” One student was drunk, one was injured and one student was dead. The drunken student was taken to a RV looking Police car where his blood level would be checked. One of the other students was covered with an orange body bag and put in an ambulance. The next part of the mock collision and my favorite part was the arrival of a helicopter. From off in the distance we could hear the thunder of a helicopter and it became even more apparent as the helicopter circled around the football field, then slowly started to descend, it was so close to us that our hair was blowing. Medics rushed out to the accident, putting the young girl on a stretcher and then took off from the football field to take the inured student to the hospital. The mock accident came to a close, but not before one final speaker addressed us. A lady walked up to the track with two poster boards showing a girl with her family and friends. The lady introduced herself and said she was the mother of a 21-year-old who was killed in an auto accident. A drunken driving car crash that took the life of her daughter, a daughter that was not even in a car with the one drinking. She was in the car with a friend and the friend’s daughter. The friend was also killed, leaving the daughter without a mother. A mother killed senselessly all because some stranger decided to drink and drive. As she continued, tears welled in her eyes, as well as mine, because of the sadness losing a loved one really brings. She continued to talk about the “what ifs.” What if her daughter had gotten in the car a minute later, or what if she had been stopped at a red light before entering the street on which she was killed? She also stated that she works for an afterschool program and watching mothers come in and pick up their daughters is saddening because she will never again be able to do that with her daughter. She will never be able to hold her daughter, comfort her, or smile over the beautiful grandchildren she could’ve had. Holidays and birthdays will be forever different because there will always be someone missing. As she wiped tears from her eyes, she told us to always be aware that we all have decisions to make and when we make them, we affect not only ourselves but other people and our surroundings. As I mentioned, at my dad’s collision repair shop I’ve seen some badly wrecked cars and never did I stop and wonder how that accident affected people’s lives or may have even taken someone’s life. Now, I can’t help but wonder if all the wrecked cars I’ve seen were really just an accident, or if they were caused by someone making a wrong decision. The reality of the sadness and anger that comes with losing someone can really hit home when you see how it affects someone else. We never think such a catastrophe can happen to us but hearing it from people and seeing it first-hand can show it can happen to anyone when someone decides to make a wrong decision. A few beers are NOT worth the troubles you can cause someone else when you decide to drive drunk or impaired. Trying to imagine the feeling that the woman got when two officers showed up at her door telling her that her daughter was killed in an auto collision or trying to fight through the pain of knowing you killed someone while sitting in a jail cell, just isn’t worth it. We all must learn to use good judgment and try to make the best choices. The presentation we saw has opened my eyes to make sure I never drink and drive because even one wrong decision, however small, can make a huge impact in someone else’s life, as well as my family’s and my own.   End of Letter “I’m very proud of her” Deary says, “Not only does it ease my stress of her being out with her friends, but it’s so powerful, to the point and short enough that if people have their teens read it, I really feel that it has to make at least a little impact and hopefully their teen has a second thought getting involved with drinking and driving.” We at Capitol Collision hope that this story can reach teens that are going out in the coming weeks to make smarter decisions and hopefully sway them from underage drinking, and if not at the least getting behind the wheel after they have become intoxicated. We at Capitol Collision do NOT endorse underage drinking. But feel that education of the youth and knowledge about real world consequences can make for better decision making choices than ignorance and denial of the harsh realities. Heidi Deary is a Junior at Mountain Ridge High School, Glendale, AZ

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