Bright-colored lights are twinkling around town and Bing Crosby is crooning on your car radio that he's “dreaming of a white Christmas.”

You stopped to pick up your child from a friend’s house on the way home from a late afternoon office party, and you both laugh out loud as you hit the punch line of a joke your boss told. It is beginning to get dark, but the weather is clear, the traffic slow and you'll be pulling into your driveway in less than five minutes.

Suddenly your cheery mood is rattled as you clip the curb rounding the corner.

“Good thing there isn't a...” Your thought trails away as the reflection of a police car suddenly fills your rearview mirror.

Now the inner pep talk begins:

“OK, I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm not speeding. Just grazed that curb. Easy now. Another mile and I'm home safe,” you say to yourself as convincingly as you can.

Just then blue lights flash in your mirror, and the next thing you know you're being asked for your driver’s license, registration and proof of insurance. You dig your license out of your wallet, and then fumble through the glove box for what seems like forever - aware that you are being intently watched by the police officer - before finally finding the paperwork. The policeman walks to his car, radios in, verifies you are not driving a stolen vehicle nor wanted for murder in ten states.

Meanwhile you're playing twenty questions with yourself:

“Did he see me bump that curb? Do I have a tail light out? Was I driving too fast? Too slow? Did I signal before I turned? What? What? What?!!”

Then he asks you the question that turns your sweaty-palmed anxiety into full-blown panic: “Have you had something to drink this afternoon?”

“Uh... I was at an office party. I... uh... just a couple of glasses of punch, officer,” you reply. But was it two? Three? More? You can't recall. But it's been over two hours since the last drink, and you had a full meal beforehand. You felt fine when you got behind the wheel, fully alert. You're sure you're not the least bit intoxicated.

Surprise! First you fail the roadside sobriety tests, then you blow a .06 on the portable breath tester. The police officer now informs you that you are being arrested for driving under the influence, and asks if there is someone who can be called to come pick up your child. The one who is now looking at you in alarm and concern. The rest of what the officer says spins in kaleidoscopic confusion. You are aware, as if in a strange slow-motion sequence, of feeling the cold metal “bracelets” slide onto your wrists, and hear above all else the blood pounding in your ears as you are being led to the police car.

That is the initial acute emotional discomfort of being arrested for driving under the influence. The financial impact later only adds to the misery.

As bad as it is getting arrested for driving under the influence, it's not a worst-case scenario. Let's get back to our impaired driver and change things just a bit.

This time, she's approaching an intersection just a few blocks from home. Her fifth grader is laughing about her boss’s joke. She only had ginger ale at the office party but she took some allergy medication a couple of hours earlier. And didn't pay much heed to the warning “Do Not Operate Heavy Machinery.”

The traffic light is yellow. She knows it's a “long yellow.” What she doesn't know and is not quite alert enough to see in time is the car speeding towards her from the right. That driver is trying to make a fast left turn before the turn lane light goes red.

Suddenly, in a shuddering, uncomprehending instant, both your worlds explode into shattered glass and twisted metal. There is no music anymore. Just a low, gurgling moan you are shocked to discover comes from you.

You feel pain beyond anything you've ever experienced. But the pain tells you that you are alive. And for that you are grateful. Until you realize in horror your child was not so fortunate.

Your life has just been shattered because of impaired driving. Both drivers under the influence in both scenarios, one by alcohol, the other by over-the-counter medication.

Impaired driving happens here, and it happens here a lot more than people realize. Oak Harbor had 114 DUI arrests last year. Sounds low, doesn't it? But numbers can be deceptive. Experts figure that a motorist can drive drunk up to 1,000 times before an arrest, and that “first offender” really means “first time caught.” Many hit-and-run drivers are also seen by researchers and police as DUIs who don't get caught.

One such motorist, who asked to remain nameless, said he realizes that his driving “degrades a little bit” after a beer or two. But after several impaired driving convictions, he's like many who drink and drive: he says he can handle it.

“I would have gotten home,” he said of the night police stopped him. “I am a very good driver. I know my capabilities. I know my limitations.”

With drivers like that, driving becomes “road roulette,” only the driver is loaded rather than a gun. What he is really limiting is the safety other drivers around him have, and possibly his life span and theirs. Sure, the driver isn't trying to aim at your car but did make two choices: to drink or take drugs and to drive. And those choices - intention aside - won't make you or someone else any less dead should you be unlucky enough to cross paths.

And if he has children in the car with him? It makes me think of another Crosby song, this one with Stills and Nash, that starts out “Teach your children well...”

Article is written by JoAnn Hellmann. Ms. Hellmann is the coordinator for the Impaired Driving Impact Panel of Island County (IDIPIC). She was recently chosen to receive the 22nd Annual Washington Traffic Safety Commission’s Superstars Award for her outstanding efforts as a citizen activist. IDIPIC is a member of the North Whidbey Youth Coalition.

Community Mind is a monthly column contributed by member agencies, organizations, and individuals from South Whidbey’s Seeds of Change: Partners for a Drug-Free Community, the Central Whidbey Youth Coalition, and the North Whidbey Youth Coalition. These informative and educational articles are dedicated to supporting our community in developing healthy, like-minded norms for the wellbeing of our children and families. For more information, please contact Holly Adams at Seeds of Change (360)221-4142, Mike Diamante at Central Whidbey Youth Coalition (360)678-4533, or Lisa Yeager at North Whidbey Youth Services, (360)279-5508.