Christmas Evening Thoughts

It is very late Christmas night and I am the only one awake in the house. At times like this, especially this time of year, it is natural to think of the past.

Reading the comments tonight on a web forum to the posting of a very graphic video from Australia about drunk driving, I thought back to my cub TV reporter days.

In 1980 in Abilene, Texas (United States) I worked as Chief Photographer and Police Reporter for the NBC TV affiliate there, KRBC-TV.

In my short career as a photojournalist up to that point I had covered more than my share of tragic traffic accidents for nightly newscasts.

One particular cold and rainy night I once again got out of a warm bed in the wee hours of the morning after my police scanner announced yet another fatal wreck outside town. I slept with my scanner on in those days. Now, I don't know how I did it.

The accident was caused by a drunk driver. A male driver of the other car - the victim in this crash - was killed. We had a rule not to show graphic film (we shot colour 16mm film back then) of dead bodies. However, this night I deviated from that rule slightly.

I wanted to make a statement about the senselessness of drunk driving. So after shooting all of the usual shots of wrecked cars, car parts strewn along the highway, police and flashing police lights to illustrate the story, I shot one more shot.

It was an extreme close-up of the dead driver's hand, hanging limply out of the shattered window. A small dribble of blood trickled down the back of his hand. I did not show his face or a wide-shot of his body slumped at the wheel.

The story aired at 6 pm the next day and created a firestorm. The local newspaper had a front-page, above-the-fold story about the controversy about this one short 2-3 second film shot in my story. The newspaper and many people in Abilene didn't approve of showing the dead man's hand.

I understood then and still understand their complaint. Looking back some thirty years now it seems like it was such an innocent time then in America compared to what is seen on television today. However, I still believe I did the right thing.

I made my point. Later, the families of the victims of drunk driving accidents thanked me also.

By the way, the drunk driver who caused the accident survived, as so many of them do.

So now through New Year's eve, please don't drive even the least bit tipsy. Your family and those of others will thank you for it.

Merry Christmas.

NOTE: I have linked the Australian DUI public service TV ad here. It is VERY graphic, but so effective in making its lesson clear.