Although those who are pulled over for driving drunk seldom realize it at the time, they’re incredibly lucky. A fine along with a possible license suspension and jail time are preferable to suffering a car wreck or being charged with aggravated assault or worse for crashing into an innocent victim.

Perhaps the greatest gift of a DUI is the clarity that comes with realizing that your drinking and judgment have become potentially life-ruining problems that you have another chance to rectify.

In a candid, self-deprecating post at Her Every Cent Counts, the writer recounts the aftermath of her DUI, listing the penalties she faced as a result. She ended up hiring a lawyer, but in the end decided it wasn’t worth it to fight the charges and hope for a plea agreement, reasoning she probably would have been better off just accepting whatever punishment the court gave her.

An excerpt:

Lesson learned, if I’m going to drink at all, just don’t plan on driving. Or don’t drink. … I didn’t matter at all in the entire situation, I was just a couple of pages of evidence and a blood alcohol percentage number. And I didn’t have a chance. I really didn’t have a chance. That’s what upsets me most — is how my lawyer made me think otherwise, how he gave me hope. There really wasn’t any hope. I might have been better off just getting a public defender and pleading guilty. In the end, the result probably wouldn’t have been any worse. And I would have saved a few thousand dollars.

DUI Don’t — A Tale of Court and Paying for my Sins [Her Every Cent Counts]

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