Every year, it happens.
Someone gets behind the wheel of a car after drinking, and someone gets killed, as a result.
It happened again this holiday season, with the Huber family paying the price.
Young Jeremy, 11, was fatally injured when the van he was in was hit broadside by a westbound Jeep Grand Cherokee travelling on Gerber Road. The accident took place on Dec. 22, a scant few days before Christmas.
A 33-year-old New Hamburg man was charged with impaired driving causing bodily harm, refusing to provide a breath sample, and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
It’s such a terrible tragedy, made worse by the fact that the Hubers lost another son earlier in 2011, also due to a collision. Lyndall Huber would have been 18 years old on New Year’s Eve. In this case, a young female driver was charged with careless driving.
Here at the Independent we often receive news reports that involve drivers who are charged with impaired driving, or of accidents where “alcohol was a factor.”
This week was no different, with two separate collisions related to alcohol — one involving a snowmobile in Erin Township, the other involving a single vehicle near Wellesley.
It’s a typical week, unfortunately.
Thankfully, most of our reports involving impaired driving are about drivers who are caught before they cause serious harm.
They are the lucky ones. The ones who simply get charged with impaired driving, and have to deal with the consequences of losing their licence, or having higher insurance premiums.
They don’t have to deal with the death of a loved one or a stranger, a death that will never be forgotten.
Every New Year’s Eve, resolutions are made by many, in hopes of making 2012 a better year.
These resolutions usually involve some self-improvement scheme, such as losing weight, saving money, or getting more exercise.
These may well be good, healthy goals for the coming year.
But we would like to suggest one more resolution, for all of us — choose to never get behind the wheel of a vehicle if you have been drinking.
Plan your options ahead of time. You can call a cab, get a ride home with a designated driver, plan to stay overnight at a friend’s house, or even take the bus, rather than drive.
It’s a resolution all of should be willing to make.  
If we don’t, the consequences could be horrendous.