A story of a Florida woman driving while drunk shows just how devastating it can be.
Kayla Mendoza, according to authorities, was driving at “about 100 miles an hour,” and she slammed into another car carrying two young women in November 2013.
Mendoza, minutes before the accident, had tweeted, “2 drunk 2 care.”
Later, she Mendoza was sentenced to 24 years in prison for crashing her car, killing Marissa Catronio and Kaitlyn Ferrante, who were both 21.
She faced a maximum 30 years in prison after she pleaded guilty on DUI manslaughter charges.
Mendoza herself suffered two broken legs as well as head injuries.
Officials said that her blood-alcohol level was 0.15, which is almost twice Florida’s legal limit of .08.
“No matter how much time passes they will never leave my heart. I think about them everyday and I regret my choices everyday,” she added. “I don’t remember deciding to drive that night so I can’t even tell you what was going through my mind when I made that decision. I have no excuses for anything I’ve done, I just ask for forgiveness.”
Drunk Driving Stats
On any given day, nearly 30 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes, according to 2017 figures published by the United States Department of Transportation.This is equivalent to one lost life every 48 minutes or just over 10,000 deaths per year.
More than 1 million drivers were arrested in 2016 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics.