Fourteen years on, and still he's daily reminded that he should be grateful he had no passengers, and that he hit a tree instead of another person.

Having been the "subject" of two accidents (one caused by me misreading a sign when I was very new to driving and confused and one caused by black ice), I can relate to this very well. I will probably always look back on those two occasions and be glad that no-one but me got hurt. I mean, I wouldn't even know how to live with myself had I hurt anyone in my accident involving the black ice, much less if I had made the choice to drive after drinking :/