Transportation and Public Works

Drunk Driving Dec. 6, 2004

December 6, 2004
Alex Poole relentless in his campaign against drunk driving
By Andrea Markey, The Graphic

A 15-year campaign against the dangers of drinking and driving has turned into a contracted government job for Alex Poole, of Poole's Corner.

Mr. Poole, who was paralyzed form the waist down in a crash 28 years ago, has traveled around the province speaking to high school students, new drivers and no-so new drivers about impaired driving a this own expense.

Now, however, Mr. Poole is working with the Highway Safety Division of the Department of Transportation and Public Works.

Besides getting a pay check, Mr. Poole's agenda has changed as well. He now speaks to students in and participants in driver rehabilitation and driver improvement programs.

Mr. Poole describes his work as a dream job, but he hopes that some day it will be obsolete.

It doesn't look like it iis going to happen anytime soon, if government statistics are any indication of the trends being set by Island drivers.

Department of Transportation and Public Works statistics show the number of alcohol-related traffic deaths on the Island has remained steady, or even increased, over the past few years. and many deaths still result form people failing to wear seatbelts.

Mr. Pole begins each talk with his own story.

On May 5, 1976, at age 20, and after a day of drinking, he started the three mile drive from the Lobster Shanty, in Montague, to his home at Poole's Corner.

"I had an invincibility complex," he said.

On Belle's Hill, with one mile to go, he lost control of his car while traveling 210 km/h. Not wearing a seatbelt, Mr Poole was thrown from his car as it flipped 13 times end over end for a distance of 1,600m.

Mr. Poole landed on a pile of rocks - his spinal cord was severed. He spent six months in hospital before returning home.

Mr. Poole is now a T-12 complete paraplegic and can't fell anything form an inch below his belly-button.

"If I had been wearing a seatbelt, I think I would not be paralyzed today. There was enough uncrushed space in the car that I would have been okay."

During his presentations, Mr. Poole asks his audiences, "Would you play Russian roulette?"

He said he is flabbergasted, at the conclusion of his talk, when some people still say they can't guarantee they won't drink and drive.

Department of Transportation and Public Works Minister Gail Shea said the program is very effective and she hopes it will continue. "The audience is so attentive during his presentations I have been told you can hear a pin drop."