Sadly, the worst can happen to you

At 9 a.m. Tuesday, Press photographer Loren Benoit documented a visual high school lesson on what can happen when youngsters drink and drive.

Two hours later he was at the tragic scene of a real life-and-death lesson. While authorities said alcohol was present at the scene, they had not concluded that the 17-year-old driver had been drinking. But what photographer Benoit saw was the shattered remains of a car that, hours earlier, had transported two very much alive young men at an exceedingly high rate of speed.

Today, many North Idahoans will begin a long Memorial Day weekend. While reverence for our fallen military heroes is the true meaning behind the holiday, unofficially for many, it is the start of summer. And that means camping, fishing, hiking and, yes, partying in back yards and on bodies of water.

It’s the start not just of the driving season, but of the slaughtering season.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an estimated 400 people die in traffic accidents over a typical Memorial Day weekend. Forty-four percent of all those fatalities are alcohol-related.

Whether that’s the deadliest time for drivers depends on the year, but Memorial Day weekend consistently ranks among the most deadly.

We know you hear this kind of warning over and over. Unfortunately, about 400 people will be convinced that those lethal statistics refer to someone else. The young who lack both experience and sometimes judgment — whether drinking is involved or not — seem prime candidates for serious misfortune. So please, high school students, pay close attention when police show you what can and does happen when bad decisions are made behind the wheel.

If you need a refresher, just look back at Loren Benoit’s photos in Wednesday’s Press.