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Drunk driver essays an interesting approach

The biggest crime involved in drunk driving is that, too often, it is not just the inebriated person behind the wheel who gets punished.

Drunk drivers cause crashes. And those crashes too often have deadly consequences to innocent people unlucky enough to be on the same road at the same time.

Judge Thomas LaCross of the 88th District Court is hoping to drive home that lesson to drunk drivers who appear before him.

For months, LaCross has asked drunk drivers to read a 2019 news story about three little girls killed by a drunk driver and then to write an essay about what the story made them feel.

The essays, chronicled in a recent News story by reporter Julie Riddle, show drunk drivers dripping with remorse, ashamed of the things they’ve done and the hurt they have caused their loved ones, the hurt they could have caused the loved ones of others.

The essays, according to LaCross, are working, with a smaller share of probation violations among those who completed the assignment.

LaCross’s approach is an interesting one, and we are glad to see it having some effect.

We hope the lessons he aims to impart hit home for those essay writers, and we see safer roadways as a result.

— The Alpena News

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