Drunk
Driverz show no regard
for
society or for the laws
your
victims, they have no rights
when
you drink and drive at night
we're
MADD!
That's the refrain from
a rap song written by Johnnie Williams, an inmate at the Jefferson
City Correctional Center. The song, "Drunk Driverz," captures
the devastating impact a drunk driver had on Phaedra Marriott's
life.
Marriott, of Florence,
was 22 years old when she was hit head on by a drunk driver while
traveling home on Highway 5. She spent the next four months
in a Columbia hospital where she struggled to overcome the near-fatal
injuries inflicted upon her by another person's decision to drink
and drive.
Not only did Marriott struggle
with extreme internal injuries, but for more than five weeks she
was placed on a respirator that had to breath for her. The day the respirator was removed, Marriott literally had to
learn to breath on her own. She defines this as her greatest
accomplishment.
Marriott's son was four
years old at the time of the crash. Because she was in
the hospital for such a long period of time, someone else had
take over as caretaker for her son.
"Someone else bought his
first school supplies for Kindergarten. Someone else picked
out his clothes for the first day of school. Someone else
watched as he got on the school bus for the first time," Marriott
said.
Marriott, who uses a
wheelchair because of her crash, shares her story with people
all over the state in an effort to make sure there are no more
victims. It was because of her public speaking that the
rap song "Drunk Driverz" came about. Marriott met Williams,
who wrote the lyrics to the song featured in the video, when she
was speaking to inmates as part of the Restorative Justice Program
at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. Williams was
so touched by Marriott's story that he wanted to write a song
to reach people and possibly change their behavior.
Drunk Driverz Video (mpg, 15 m)
Drunk Driverz Song (mp3, 503 kb)
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