Gaining on drunk drivers
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er six months in outpatient rehabilitation.

“Life as I knew it drastically changed. I wanted to serve the community by becoming either a police officer or firefighter.” But that became impossible. At the time of the accident, Hicks lived with his father in a two-story home. His wheelchair prevented him from getting around in the home. That, combined with the fact that Hicks’ brain injury prevented him from being left alone, forced him to move in with his grandparents. “I had to relearn everything, including getting dressed and taking a shower. I have to use a catheter and drive a specialized van,” he says. But even with all of his injuries, Hicks was lucky. The driver and other passenger were both killed.

Today, Hicks is a community affairs specialist for Southern Illinois University School of Medicine’s Think First, a head and spinal cord injury prevention program funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). “Saving teens is a big focus of our program,” explains Hicks. “I want them to know what I went through. How my life changed. And what I lost.”

In addition to his work with Think First, Hicks travels within a nine-county area speaking on about four victim impact panels each month. Such panels are where DUI offenders are required by courts to listen to victims of alcohol-related accidents in hopes of keeping them from reoffending.

Pryor also speaks on victim impact panels.

According to MADD Illinois, anecdotal evidence shows that the panels reduce recidivism among those who attend. At the end of each of his panels, Pryor shows a picture of his granddaughter Alexis, now 7 years old, and tells participants to “remember this little face when you’re thinking of getting behind the wheel after drinking.”

“It’s important that people see the reality of drinking and driving,” says Pryor, who still finds it painful to speak about his son’s accident. “It hurls you into a life of neverness. Timothy will never experience Alexis’ first words, or see her first steps, her first Christmas, her first birthday, her first day of school, or her first school program. I want the roads safe for her,” Pryor states.

Getting tough Illinois DUI laws – said to be among the toughest in the nation – are designed to punish those who drink and drive, and to deter others from committing the crime. It’s reasonable to conclude that tougher laws and stricter penalties are largely responsible for the decrease in alcohol-related fatalities.

In the past decade the state has doubled suspension periods, increased the amount of fines, restricted “court supervision” as a penalty to