A question for the holidays: ‘Are you OK to drive?’

Every day, an average of 29 people are killed in drunk driving crashes — one person every 50 minutes. And we know that the holidays put more drunks on the road.

SHARE A question for the holidays: ‘Are you OK to drive?’
The Rev. Paul Burak

The Rev. Paul Burak

Orland Park police

“Are you OK to drive?”

As a retired priest in Orland Park left a church Christmas party at a restaurant in Orland Park last Wednesday, at least one person, and possibly others, asked the priest that question in so many words.

Was he fit to drive?

The 73-year-old retired priest, Paul Burak, assured them he was fine.

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Editorials

Then he got in his car, hit another car as he backed out of his parking spot, and drove away.

Seconds later, prosecutors say, Burak struck two women — both teachers in the church’s elementary school — as they walked to their own cars.

One woman, Margaret “Rone” Leja, was killed. The other woman, Elizabeth Kosteck, was seriously injured.

This tragedy is so familiar and common, which is why we are feeling so frustrated.

We don’t know for sure that Burak was drunk, though he has been charged with aggravated driving under the influence and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. But we know drunk drivers kill — and are killed themselves — by the thousands each year in the United States, often right after after they have shaken off that most telling of questions: Are you OK to drive?

Every day, an average of 29 people are killed in drunk driving crashes — one person every 50 minutes.

We also know that the holidays put more drunk drivers on the road.

This editorial, then, is simply a holiday season reminder that we all do our best to keep people off the roads, including ourselves, when they have no business being behind the wheel of a car.

Ask that key question: Are you OK to drive? Ask it slowly and quietly, not in a confrontational way. Ask for the car keys if you have any doubts. Suggest another way to get home. Call the police if you must.

If somebody asks you if you’re OK to drive, answer honestly if you are not: “No. I could use a ride.” Take a cab or an Uber. Arrange for a ride in advance if you know you’ll be drinking — or under the influence of any substance.

As of Jan. 1, recreational marijuana will be legal in Illinois, and we can’t help but worry about what hospital emergency rooms will look like after midnight on New Year’s Eve.

We want to stress that we are not prejudging Burak. We don’t know all the facts.

Burak served honorably as a Catholic priest for 49 years, including his last nine as the pastor at St. Michael’s parish in Orland Park, where the two teachers worked. He received a lifetime service award from Cardinal Francis George in 2014.

Burak’s attorneys told a judge that he suffers from Parkinson’s disease and glaucoma and drank only a Manhattan and a glass of wine at the church party.

But somebody asked Burak that night: “Are you OK to drive?” And he said yes.

How often should the answer to that question really be “No”?

Send letters to letters@suntimes.com.

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