Just Another Friday Night

Duration: 600

Year Published: 1984

Creator: AAA Foundation For Traffic Safety

Complete Record: Close up of a troubled looking boy in a courtroom. His attorney speaks on his behalf, asking a judge for leniency. His parents sit behind him. The judge weighs it all in his head. The prosecutor argues for the judge to use the harshest punishment available, as the boy is charged with 8 counts of vehicular manslaughter. The dead teenagers’ parents sit on the other side of the courtroom. The judge considers all this and departs to his chamber for deliberation. The judge walks down a corridor to his office, and at his desk he reviews the case evidence. He visualizes the chain of events leading up to the accident. The boy gets in his yellow truck and floors the gas, taking off triumphantly after work. His radio is loud. He weaves through traffic. He reaches his neighborhood and parks with a screech in his driveway. His mom shakes her head as she does the laundry. He rushes inside and says he won’t be staying for dinner even though his mom says his brother is visiting. He is then seen at a convenience store buying some beer. He’s driving briskly again, drinking a beer while he’s driving. Going far above the speed limit. He pulls up to his friends, who are hanging out innocently, and he offers them a beer. They say no, but they agree to hang out with him later. He drives quickly down the street but slows way down when he sees a cop parked along the street. Speedometer shots. His other friends surprises him and they drive away, both drinking beers. They disagree over the radio, and while distracted by his friend, the boy almost crashes into a rail guard along the road. He scrapes the side of his truck but he doesn’t seem too worried. Later on he picks up his friends. His other friend buys more beer. They all climb in his truck, most of them in the back of the truck bed. It’s turning into night, and they speed off. The boy is rushing down the highway while his friends juggle beers in the back. He’s going over 60 MPH. Everyone is laughing. His friend urges him to go faster. They hit a 25 MPH turn too fast, and the truck flips over and crashes. The judge looks at a photo of the crash. He puts down the case file. Close up of the boy in court. The judge lists a bunch of facts about driving accidents and how the boy fits pretty much all the descriptions. He then has the boy rise and says that he has two options - he can sentence the boy to 24-40 years in prison, or put him on probation and have him do community service. But the way the judge tears into the kid for being a reckless driver, it does not seem likely he will go easy on him. He then asks the boy if he were in his position, what verdict would he give...then the screen goes to black before the boy can answer.