If there’s anything I don’t mess around with, it’s drinking and driving. While I have not personally been affected by a drunk driver, I have seen too many people somehow get into more trouble than it’s worth because they drank and decided to drive away rather than call a cab or ask a sober friend to give them a ride home.

The latter two options are much, much cheaper than the cost of a DUI. Have you ever seen the totals for court costs, legal/lawyer fees, et al for getting arrested for drinking and driving? It could finance a starter home or pay for an economy-sized car. Or a luxury weekend in Las Vegas.

So I went out with a few coworkers tonight and there was a woman there who clearly had a lot to drink. She’d had a rough go of it as of late and I understand the need to blow off some steam and have a drink or two. We’ve all been there. But this woman had crossed a certain line and a few of us, in an effort not only to end the conversation but to send her on her way, agreed that we’d call her a cab so she would get home safely.

She insisted she wasn’t drunk. We insisted she take a cab home. We even called the cab and attempted to pool cash together.

She excused herself to go to the bathroom as we did this and a few minutes later, I saw her sprint out of the bathroom and out the door of the bar. Grown women DO NOT sprint out of a bar … unless they’ve had several drinks or are trying to get away from a creepy stalkerish man. The only man around was a married man. She’d had several drinks.

We were all stunned. I wasn’t going to have that on my conscience. So I ran out the side door, into the parking lot and started screaming at her as she got into the door of her silver SUV.

“JILL! DON’T YOU DARE GET INTO THAT CAR! YOU’VE HAD AN AWFUL MONTH, AND IT’S GONNA GET WORSE IF YOU START THAT CAR!”

She got into the car. She drove away. I canceled the cab. I have no idea if she made it home.