For Reporter Kitty Alva, Good Friday a Grim Reminder of Horrendous Drunk Driving Tragedy
In light of the latest apparent bit of crass and careless celebrity DUI behavior (Amanda Bynes), not to mention the often flippant tone of media coverage, TV reporter Kitty Alva shared this chastening tweet:
As Alva tells FishbowlLA via telephone, she wants people to remember that drunk driving is an extremely serious issue, in all of its various forms. Nineteen years ago, during a year when Good Friday fell on April 1, the relatives she mentions were killed as part of a terrible such accident with a total death toll of 13.
“My family was headed to Cancun for a vacation,” Alva, a native of Southern California, remembers. “For one of my uncles, it was the first holiday he had ever taken. They were killed by a man driving a big rig on the wrong side of the road. I don’t think in the aftermath he was even sentenced or served any time, and I’m not really sure why.”
The 38-year-old mother of two sons says her husband deals with his own share of DUI stupidity as a Long Beach fire department battalion chief. The couple live in the Inland Empire where, since Alva was laid off four years ago from a TV station, she pursues freelance broadcast work.
During the conversation, we wondered why human beings have such a hard time with the clear logic of don’t-drink-and-drive. Alva has no answer. But like all who have been entangled in such a vehicular incident, she can’t help but have an angry response to the stupidity of celebs such as Bynes.
Alva adds that even though it’s extremely difficult to mark the annual anniversary of the tragedy, she remains deeply thankful that her sister did not take part in the vacation trip as originally planned. RIP her uncles, cousins and all other victims of the senseless choice drunk individuals make by getting behind the wheel.
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