Schools

Mom Drives Home Drunk Driving Dangers at Overlea

Debbie Hardy, a mother whose daughter was killed in a drunk driving accident, recently spoke to Overlea High School students about the the dangers of driving while intoxicated.

Getting behind the wheel of a car after you've been drinking is, at the very least, reckless—it's also dangerous, and can have serious and unintended consequences for you, your passengers and even total strangers.

No one knows that better than Debbie Hardy.

Hardy, who recently spoke to students at , lost her youngest daughter Janet when she was killed in a drunk driving accident. That was in October 2003; Janet was 13 years old.

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Overlea juniors and seniors, who will soon go to prom, listened intently as Hardy told the story of Janet's life and death. She encouraged them to remember her daughter as they entered the party season and to think before they took that first drink.

Check out some video from Hardy's speech to Overlea students in the gallery above.

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"Ideally I'd like to think that they'll go to prom and not drink, but I'm a realist," Hardy said in an interview. "So I just hope that if they do drink, they'll stay where they are. Hopefully they'll remember Janet's picture up on the screen before they pick up the keys to a car."

During the presentation, students also heard from Baltimore County police officers about the facts of drunk driving.

According to police:

  • Alcohol related crashes are the leading cause of death for people 15-20 years of age.
  • Nearly 1,900 people under age 21 die every year from crashes involving underage drinking.
  • Sixteen to 20-year-olds who drink and drive are two times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than someone over 21.

Overlea High School's senior prom is held next Friday, May 11; the senior proms for Parkville and Loch Raven High Schools will be held on May 12.

"People need to know that drunk driving does kill people. We need to remember that my daughter was here and we need to remember how she died," Hardy said.


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