Hey Stupid, It’s Saint Patrick’s Day… Go Kill Yourself Quietly Somewhere!

SAINT PATRICK may have driven the snakes from Ireland all those years ago, but we’ve still got our fair share of slippery characters here these days, and worse we still have a fair amount of stupid ones too. Although, to be fair, almost the entire government has abandoned Ireland to celebrate Paddy’s Day abroad somewhere, leaving only Willie O’Dea to hold the fort – so that takes care of the slippery lot, leaving us with just the stupid buggers instead.

Oh yes, it’s that time of the year when the death count on the roads rises beyond comprehension, every single time, and we count the cost in the newspapers and draw comparisons like some morbid league table, lamenting the decline of social and family values and then, as usual, everyone goes back to work and gets busy enough to not give a crap until next year.

The headlines, the blood and the bones, the grieving families and the mashed cares all fade back into the black and white print of the newspapers and gradually morph into last weeks tragedy, last months statistic and next years league table reference for comparison. And life goes on, for some of us anyway, but not those unfortunate enough to be caught up in the carnage .

I’m no angel it has to be said, if anything I’m a fairly flawed person with lots of history and baggage. In the eighties I was certainly drinking and driving, and so was everyone else… but times changed and so did I. What was acceptable then is not now, and that’s a good thing. I’m also no fan of the ‘nanny state’, this endless erosion of civil liberties that seems to be taking place here in Ireland these days, and I’m certainly not an advocate of this privatisation of speed cameras and the inevitable revenue cash cow it will generate as a result. But…

Ah yes, there is a “but”.

But, having said all that I have to recognise that it really is pure stupidity to drink and then get into a car and drive. And given the statistics for an average Paddy’s Day weekend and the resulting road deaths that will potentially happen… well, let’s just say by all means enjoy your Paddy’s Day, get drunk, get drugged, hell I don’t care what you do… but please do not get in a car while pissed or drugged.

Or at the very least if you do intend drinking and driving this Paddy’s Day, how about you kill yourself quietly somewhere on some back road without endangering anyone else?

It’s the least you can do.