Australia's Melissa McGuinness's life turned upside down on December 8, 2012. That night, her 18-year-old son was out drinking and smoking marijuana, and he made a fateful choice that ripped many, many lives apart. He got behind the wheel.
Australia's Melissa McGuinness's life turned upside down on December 8, 2012. That night, her 18-year-old son was out drinking and smoking marijuana, and he made a fateful choice that ripped many, many lives apart. He got behind the wheel.
But she puts a purpose to it. She has become the founder of You Choose - Youth Road Safety, a campaign that visits high schools around Australia.
By giving them a first person perspective, she hopes to convince young drivers not to drive under the influence.
Another car containing five people had broken down on the side of the road, and they were all sitting in it when Jordan happened along.
The only survivor was the other driver. Jordan killed a 16-year-old, a 17-year-old, and a 20- and 23-year-old couple who were parents to a 15-month-old girl, in addition to himself.
It's her term for teenagers who think "they're ten-foot tall and bullet proof."
"There are accidents and there are choices," Melissa says. "Jordan didn't have an accident that night. That's what happened to his victims. Jordan made a choice."
"As much as there are hundreds of reasons to be proud of Jordan... he died in shame," she says. "This is how he’s going to be remembered. There’s no getting around that.
"Think of all the effort people who have loved you put into your life. And imagine all of that being wiped out by one stupid choice. Because that’s the brutal reality of what happens."
They've seen the wreckage from Jordan's crash, the other car an unrecognizable heap of blackened metal, they've seen the funeral,.
"The thing with... Jordan is he’s relatable because he’s just like any other other kid there that’s sitting in that auditorium... and I’m also relatable as the mum," she says.
"[Through Jordan they’re shown] this great kid that made this one stupid choice that could be any of those kids. Any of them."
h/t: Yahoo News, 9Now