I remember driving on a major highway with XABF once, and traffic moving at a crawl because of an accident blocking two of the three lanes.
The accident wasn't really an accident, it became apparent upon seeing it that someone was driving too fast around the turn, hit a puddle left by a brief but heavy rainstorm that morning, and completely flipped the car (several times, judging by the shape of the car) to the point it was laying sideways blocking the two lanes. There were police and firetrucks everywhere, and an ambulance taking away the passenger of the car (that passenger side was a mess; the driver side was miraculously almost untouched). The car was clearly totaled.
We had our windows down, since it was a lovely day outside, and happened to overhear part of the driver's conversation on his cell phone. "Dude, you shoulda been here, it was friggin'
awesome!"
That driver reminds me of an alcoholic who isn't ready yet to quit.
It doesn't matter how severe the accident, how big the trouble they get into, it's not a warning, it's another badge to brag about, another medal to pin to their drunken jersey.
And it doesn't matter who suffers as a result of their addiction, either. Their friend gets hauled away in an ambulance? Sucks to be the friend, if they were as cool as the alcoholic, they wouldn't have gotten hurt.
Dude, it's friggin'
awesome, you shoulda been there.
I'm sorry to sound so cynical.
Just, please don't expect this to teach her anything, because right now, it
won't in all likelihood.
The plus side, of course, is that they will teach her where to turn when she does want to get help, and so when she reaches that point where she recognizes her problem and wants to fix it, she'll have more awareness of the tools and assistance available to people like her.
Right now, though, there's a very good chance that nothing will change.
