This is good advice for drivers, but I have a broader meaning in mind. What I really want to say is this. In our daily lives, we commonly do any number of highly consequential things. Things that, if done well or poorly, have the ability to profoundly alter our lives as well as the lives of those around us. Things like driving a car, carrying a firearm, using drugs or alcohol, or engaging in sexual conduct. Cars are a great example. They can get us where we want to go. But they can also kill. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2022, 3,308 people were killed in the United States, and an estimated additional 289,310 people were injured in crashes involving distracted drivers – that is, drivers using cell phones and other devices while driving. That same year, 13,524 people died as a result of someone driving while intoxicated.

As a criminal defense attorney, I commonly see good people charged with serious crimes. All too often, these crimes occurred because a person engaged in two or more consequential behaviors at the same time. For example, they had a few drinks with friends and then got behind the wheel of a car. Or they had sex when one or both partners were too inebriated to consent. Or they took their concealed-carry handgun with them when they went downtown to the bar. In each case, it was the combination of drugs or alcohol with some other consequential behavior that resulted in someone getting seriously hurt or worse, and my client then facing years in prison. So my advice is this. If you choose to engage in any one consequential behavior, do that thing and nothing else. That is, pick a lane and stay there.