Moderation Drinking: DRUNK DRIVING….. DON’T DO IT!

Summer is in full swing here in Folly Beach / Charleston with temperatures mid 90’s all last week and beach traffic jams are now an every day event. And with summer comes more drunk driving incidents………It’s no surprise ,  really as more people on go on vacation, take road trips and get out on boats. According to National Safety Council June July and August have the highest occurrence of drunk driving accidents and fatalities. 

You would think that with ride sharing like Uber and Lyft now available just about everywhere that the number of drunk driving fatalities would be way down. But according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) alcohol related fatalities in the US jumped to 13,000 in 2022 for the first time since 2007… and surpassed that mark again in 2023.   And drunk driving deaths have increased 33% overall since 2019. We are heading in the wrong direction!  So what is going on and what can YOU do to help change this trend….  

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-host: Sam Meader

Transcript

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Andy Whiteside: Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 7 of moderation drinking. I'm your host. Andy White Side got Sam Meter with me, Sam. I'm getting a lot of positive feedback from this podcast I don't think we have as many listeners as we want, but I'm sure that'll grow over time. But I've got people that I didn't think. Listen to any of my podcasts

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Andy Whiteside: asking me questions about this one which is good, we're having impact.

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Sam: Absolutely. Yeah. And it's

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Sam: You know, our topic today, is a is a timely one. It's summers in full swing here in Charleston area and Folly Beach, where I live. As you know, our our whole business is doing Airbnb rentals, and the summer months are when the drunk driving fatalities in the Us. Are at their highest. It, you know, for obvious reasons. There's more people doing road trips.

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Sam: driving to vacations, taking vacations out on the boats and stuff. But I thought it was a good topic to really address. You know the obvious about you shouldn't drink and drive, and I'll drill into some of the things that I found in in some of the research.

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Andy Whiteside: Let's let's do that. Your second paragraph here has some statistics in it.

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Andy Whiteside: Is this problem getting better, which you would have thought.

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Sam: Well, that's what I found, you know. I think the headline is with the proliferation of ride hailing services like lyft and Uber. You would think that with those options out there that would be less drunk driving fatalities. But, in fact.

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Sam: in in 2,022 for the 1st time since 2,007 in the Us. We went over 13,000 deaths related to alcohol.

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Sam: and it happened again in 2023. It surpassed that mark. And so

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Sam: you know, the last time that was this, high was before Uber and Lyft, and like I said you would think that with Uber and Lyft being out there that things will go down. And so I I was kind of poking around on the Internet trying to figure out why that is.

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Sam: And it really seems to come down to some ingrained social and psychological issues that we as humans have.

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Sam: and also some some demographics.

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Andy Whiteside: Yeah, yeah, I wanna hear more about that, Sam. I'm gonna throw in one element to this. And let's see if you've thought about this before, but I grew up, you know, out in the suburbs a good little bit. There's a lot of

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Andy Whiteside: younger, let's say millennials and Gen. Zers, and even Gen. Xr's, who have moved more into the towns, into the cities. At least they were pre pandemic. Let's see what we think after pandemic. But so they don't have to drive that far. They can walk home. I grew up in the twenties, having to drive an hour or 30 min or more to get home.

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Sam: Yeah.

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Andy Whiteside: People get to walk more these days, plus, and still the number is high and gone back up.

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Sam: Yeah. And I think,

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Sam: you know you, you raise a good point. If you're in a position where you can walk to places socially, professionally, and not have to get in the car then drunk driving doesn't become such an issue. But statistically, you know

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Sam: what what they're saying, is the the age old behaviors of humans. So when you.

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Sam: when you consume alcohol, the the headline is, it impairs your judgment. There's no refuting of that statement. It's across the board medical truth that when you consume alcohol, your impairment, you you, your judgment is impaired, and of course, when you drink you may get a sense of false confidence. You may feel invincible.

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Sam: And and those are some of the reasons the the study show as to why people think it's okay to get behind the wheel, and I've been guilty of it. When I was drinking to excess years ago. You know the little dance you do with a devil in your head thinking, you know, I'm okay. I'm okay to drive. I've driven drunk before nothing bad happened, and all it takes is one momentary lapse, and it's it's game over for you. And the person that you hit

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Sam: you know. And the other side of it, too, is

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Sam: you? You get to a certain point, and you may realize you're too buzz or too drunk to drive. But out of fear you're gonna put the you know keys in the ignition and go because you don't want to tell your spouse or your parents, or whatever you might be too drunk to drive or you don't want to deal with the logistics of picking up your car the next day at the bar. So there's they're they're talking about. These are some of the reasons why people move into that space where they make the bad decision to

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Sam: drive after drinking and on the demographic side. It is. It is a clear cut case, you know, and that's why you know, in the insurance industry the highest car insurance

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Sam: rates you get are when you are a young male driver, and it's the same thing with the drunk driving fatalities across the board. It is the highest risk, and a staggering 41 of all

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Sam: fatal crashes in the demographic of 20 to 2021 to 24 year old males involved alcohol, and that's getting close to half.

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Sam: Can you.

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Andy Whiteside: I'm I'm gonna tell you you're wrong slightly. But here's why, whenever got 2 girls, 2 boys, I was shocked when I got my my my twins. Both of them turned 16 same day. I got their insurance, and my daughters was higher than my sons at the at the beginning because of the, you know, 16 to 18 year old demographic of girls being distracted by other things, and then after that it becomes the boy that becomes, more likely to have higher insurance or have accidents because of you know what you're pointing out here. So it's.

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Sam: Yeah, well, that was interesting. So the earlier years, the women, the the young girls, are more expensive.

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Andy Whiteside: Yeah, I was shocked by that. And then they said, No, it flips, and then they get where the boys become not irresponsible in terms of not pay attention, which they got that, too, for sure. But then they, you know, get, you know, alcohol plays a role, and then I would say, if you take alcohol

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Andy Whiteside: and you apply it to a distracted driving, which, you know, happens I really got something. I'm a you know. I'm 50 year old male I've got on reading glasses as we're presenting here right now. I've learned that I can't be distracted at all while I'm driving with my phone and stuff because I can't see the damn thing anymore.

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Sam: Yeah. So you have to spend longer to squint and look at the text, or whatever.

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Andy Whiteside: Yeah.

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Andy Whiteside: yeah.

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Sam: That's that's good. And so you know. So what can we, as individuals do to not drink and drive? It seems obvious just to sort of say, don't drink and drive, and and I I remember when I met Tess Roland, the National Director, Matt, I know you met her at the event in North Carolina last year.

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Sam: She talked a lot about how the message has changed with mothers against drunk driving, not to focus on drinking, but to folks on driving used to be the slogan was, Don't drink and drive.

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Sam: but now they're they're just really flipping that saying never drive after drinking. So a lot of people, when you say don't drink, they just tune it out.

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Andy Whiteside: Right.

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Sam: And so their messaging has gone to be more direct on the don't drive. We can't stop you from drinking, but the message is, don't drive after drinking and she had told me about a a project she was working on embarking to interview a Survey college students at various campuses around the country.

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Sam: and was surprised at sitting down at these round tables, talking, you know, casually, openly, about their drinking habits, and what might lead them to to get behind the wheel, and they are. They all with confidence said, Oh, we we got that covered, we we typically as we get through the night we find out the person who's had the least amount of drinks.

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Sam: and that's the person who's gonna drive home. And she just puts up her hands. That's the wrong thing. There should be 0 drinking, be, you know, when you get behind the wheel. So she's been working with to try to change certainly that younger mindset on college campuses.

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Andy Whiteside: Yeah, and I I'll I'll throw some out to you. And as it becomes that that influencible generation.

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Andy Whiteside: you know, where are all the celebrities and the professional athletes in this case, in fact.

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Andy Whiteside: not that often, I mean, it's pretty often you find one of them in that exact same scenario where, like man, could you not afford an uber or a private limousine with making millions of dollars a year? Are you setting here.

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Sam: And that that

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Sam: it it. I think it just comes down to alcohol, impairs your judgment, and that's the other part of it is the best way to not drink a drive is to have a plan

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Sam: before you start drinking and the obvious ones are out there, you know, designated driver, and, as I said, it should be somebody who concerns consumes 0 alcoholic beverages throughout the night with you.

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Sam: you know, and again getting back to the obvious that we've talked about. Uber and Lyft, seemingly are everywhere now. So have a plan. Have the app at the ready and use them. That's what they're there for. Call a trusted friend.

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Sam: I know on my phone. I've got all the local taxi services and such. And even, you know with. I've been talking a lot about my 1st round, last call challenge coin that I use as a tool to help limit my drinking to 2. But when I 1st started this, I thought to myself, Well, this will really allow me to go out, and

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Sam: you know, you know, drink your moderation, then be able to drive home, and the more I thought about it, even with just a couple of drinks, a couple of beers on the empty stomach, I could get a little buzz and feel a little lightheaded. And it does those milliseconds of response. Time when you're impaired. Even a little bit could make a huge difference. So

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Sam: the key is to have 0 drinks before you get behind the wheel so call for a ride know your limits. If if if you're you're if you know that, you're gonna be going out with a certain group of friends, you're probably gonna have one too many again. Plan ahead with a designated driver. Have a call at the ready to somebody

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Sam: they can pick you up

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Sam: and then the other. I'm gonna go ahead.

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Andy Whiteside: Controversial question here for you.

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Andy Whiteside: Is there some type of measurement where you measure between the people who have 2 drinks?

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Andy Whiteside: And the next thing, you know. They think they're a formula. One driver.

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Sam: Right.

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Andy Whiteside: Says, people that have 2 drinks

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Andy Whiteside: and they act, and then they realize, hey, I need to be a little more aware and a little more cautious.

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Sam: Yeah, I don't know. I think that comes down to you know everybody.

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Sam: Every body type is different. Every physiologic response is different, and every situation is different. A. A. As to how many drinks affect you, I know for me. If you're on an empty stomach, it's

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Sam: it's gonna affect you a lot more. But I I know for me that in general, and I've read a lot about this, too. In general, after 2 drinks is when the sliding really starts to happen. You you have that 3rd or 4th drink, and your judgment really just goes sideways. But again, the headline is never drive after drinking

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Sam: and I put something in here, too, about the the cost of all of this. You know, whenever we're talking about drunk, driving fatalities. They they tend to

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Sam: talk in generic terms of statistics, and say, these these people were killed.

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Sam: And I think

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Sam: the thing to remember is that behind every statistic there is a person

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Sam: and then, just instead of saying, You know this, this person, that person is, think about their name, and i i i threw it out. I just kind of

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Sam: did a little exercise, and

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Sam: if you're thinking about somebody you didn't know who passed away from a drunk driving incident. That's 1 thing. But if you're going to get behind the wheel

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Sam: think about the cost of if you got an accident, you killed somebody. Then you got arrested for a Dui.

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Sam: I you know

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Sam: that that scenario is has a certain feel to it, but I'm gonna flip it and say.

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Sam: what would it be like if you

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Sam: drank and drive? Gotten an accident, and you killed your spouse or your daughter? I think if you have that mindset where where the person who dies in that scenario is close to your heart, you're less likely to pick up the keys after you've had one too many. And and I I think that's a big part of. And of course, then there's like the the smallest part of the equation really is the financial cost where the attorneys, fees, and court costs on average, the the largest.

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Sam: or, on average, the amount that you have to financially deal with with the Dui is around 10 grand, not to mention the cost of of your freedom, because you're gonna lose your license, and how you're gonna shop for groceries. Get to work, pick up your kid at school, and then, of course, they hire insurance. So there's a money side of it. But it's the the tragic loss of life that

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Sam: we want everybody to think about.

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Sam: Yeah.

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Andy Whiteside: It's it's just not worth it, I think. What you're really saying is, don't put yourself in that position, you know. Get a get a ride there, get a ride home.

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Sam: Yeah, it's it's planning ahead. And

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Sam: it really. Isn't that expensive to get a a new brand? Think about this, you know. $30 one way, $30, the other compared to a

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Sam: a loss of life or a lifetime major changing event for somebody you might kill or hurt yourself.

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Sam: and it's just not worth it.

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Sam: And.

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Andy Whiteside: How about this one? We never said it this way. Get get a ride there, get a ride home, or you know, if you're gonna go out and have drinks on the weekends and stuff live somewhere where you can walk somewhere.

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Sam: No, no, I'm I'm fortunate enough. I live on Folly Beach. It's a small island. We live

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Sam: 4 blocks from

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Sam: the little town where there's a number of bars and restaurants. If I wanted to go have a cold one, I'm always walking home. It's just not not worth it to even drive. The streets are real narrow here, too, and I'm on busy beach days. You get a lot of people parked by the side of the road. So I I think it just comes down to

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Sam: just don't do it. And if you, if you think about

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Sam: what it would be like if you killed somebody you love. That's the biggest, I I think.

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Sam: place in your brain where you could literally put a stop to it. Yeah.

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Sam: And you know, i i i mentioned this before we had a and you know this very well, cause you you knew these folks. We we had a tragedy on Folly Beach last spring bride and groom got married on the beach

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Sam: and on the drive home from from the the beach to the the house they're renting. The bride was killed by a drunk driver. It's a it's a it's a tragedy. And I you know the the bride actually rented one of our Airbnb's for for her family member, so I didn't know her and never met her. But my wife had communications with her, and she touched our lives because she rented one of our places.

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Sam: And you know, it's just the sad story ever I just a little personal note. My wife and I got married on the beach here 10 years ago. We're celebrating our 10th anniversary this fall, and so I keep the picture of our wedding on Folly beach here at my desk.

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Sam: It's not in a frame. It's just on a piece of paper that's on the top of the stack of the work. I have to do that day, so the edges are all wrinkled and ruffled because I pick it up and look at it every day is one of the most precious memories I have of marrying the love of my life on the beach. And you know, after that action i i i kept a picture of Sam and Eric at my desk.

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Sam: I don't wanna ever, you know, forget I I can't imagine the joy that I felt marrying my love of my life on the beach, and then they did the same thing. But it was. It was evaporated the night that it happened. Just so sad. So I I think the more you can put a face

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Sam: to the potential person you might kill if you get behind the wheel after you've had had a few drinks

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Sam: if you can put a face to it. That's when you're going to change your behavior. And that's really the message I have.

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Andy Whiteside: Right.

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Andy Whiteside: Well, Sam, thanks for taking some more time to cover this. I know we're we're having impact on some people. And I'd say, if you listen to this, share it with somebody else.

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Andy Whiteside: Sure think it benefit from the share with kids. I mean, if if nothing else doing this, if it just has an impact on the next generation that

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Andy Whiteside: yeah, they're being influenced by movies and Tvs and social media. Let's just say social media times 10.

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Andy Whiteside: Right? Hmm.

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Andy Whiteside: You know they got we have a chance to influence them the right way, and, you know, have them living in the right place, getting the right rides, understanding the the the financial and the personal impact.

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Andy Whiteside: It's it's it. This really is something that should not be getting worse. It should be getting better.

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Sam: Right

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Sam: 1 1 decision at a time. That's how it's going to change.

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Sam: And even if one person out there who hears this decides, and next time they go to a bar

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Sam: to take uber

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Sam: that that's a that's a win on some small scale. So it's going to take one person at a time making the right decision.

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Andy Whiteside: Yeah, or just make a commitment to sleep on a friend's couch that night.

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Sam: Yeah, there's all kinds of options.

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Andy Whiteside: Yeah, alright, sir, I appreciate the time and the conversation.

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Sam: Of course we'll see you next month.

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Andy Whiteside: See you soon.

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Andy Whiteside: Alright!