The most chilling noise in a drunk driving collision, Maxx Jones says, comes sometime after the crash.

“When you tell someone that terrible news, that their son or daughter is dead, humans make a certain sound. It sounds like their heart is coming through their ribs.”

Jones, an Orcas Island EMT, told her tale to a gym full of students at a recent drunk driving assembly at Orcas High School. Members of Point Blank, the local chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions, led the forum, in which teens performed a skit about the legal, financial and emotional ramifications of underage drinking and local experts explained the many ways it can irreversibly change lives.

Noticeably absent from the bleachers was a very important group: adults. It’s not just a teenager who can cause the kind of pain that Jones described. When intoxicated adults get behind the wheel of a car, they are driving a lethal weapon, too. Most drunk driving accidents are caused by adults, as most drivers on the road are adults.

All of our community members – young, middle aged, and beyond – needed to hear what was said during the forum. Adults are subject to the very same consequences to which our youth are vulnerable: the loss of driving privileges, jail time, lawsuits, and a lifetime of guilt.

Who do you think our kids learn from first? Us. When teens see their parents planning a night out responsibly, it sets a good example – for now and later.

Adult drinking and driving is a real problem, even here. Take a look at the sheriff’s log each week. If we took a tally of how many DUIs are issued here, we’d be aghast.

So where’s the adult education? We could all stand to be reminded of what a little liquor and two tons of steel can do.