The world of hockey, and across Canada and the United States, was stunned and shocked last week with the sad news of two hockey players, and brothers, killed in an awful tragedy late last week.
An alleged drunk driver killed Johnny Gaudreau, known by the nickname “Johnny Hockey”, and his brother Matthew, while they were out cycling near their family’s home in New Jersey.
Both are married with children, and both were set to be the groomsmen in their sister Katie’s wedding on Friday, when they were struck and killed the night before.
The tragic loss is unimaginable for their families at what was supposed to be a special family celebration of a wedding, and it’s also a loss to the respective brothers’ teams.
For Johnny, the tragic loss was felt not only by his current NHL team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, but by the Calgary Flames where he spent nine seasons. In many ways, Calgary fans saw him grow up from a novice fresh out of college hockey into an accomplished hockey star who was a part of the community.
Hearing and seeing the outpouring of grief and anger and sadness over this senseless tragedy, one question that arose in many people’s minds is, how could this happen?
For years, police and other organizations (like MADD) have campaigned and let the public know, driving while drunk or high is simply not acceptable and not to be tolerated, particularly as it puts the lives of other people at risk besides their own.
Why does it take a tragedy to hammer this particular point home with people? It shouldn’t take a tragic death or deaths for people to realize that it is a criminal act of ultimate negligence to get behind the wheel and drive when one is impaired by drugs and/or alcohol.
There have been innumerable tragic deaths in the Weyburn and surrounding communities, and indeed in most communities around the province and across the country, all due to the selfish and negligent act of driving while impaired.
There have been accidents causing death and injury involving single vehicles, and more tragically, involving other vehicles and pedestrians and cyclists, and this is one more tragic incident that could have been avoided.
An “accident” is a collision where nothing could have been done to prevent it — but an incident like this is absolutely and totally preventable, and should not happen. There are no excuses, as everyone knows and has heard, there are stiff penalties and fines for people convicted of impaired driving. Clearly, the penalties need to be far harsher to hit home to all motorists, it is not acceptable to get behind the wheel and drive if you’ve been drinking or using drugs. Just don’t do it!
