BUFFALO, N.Y. — President Biden has declared this December as National Impaired Driving Prevention Month.

A Buffalo couple who were both hit by a drunk driver are helping to raise awareness about the increase in drunk driving during the holiday season.

Roberta Anderson has biked on Elmwood Avenue before, but this is the first time she’s actually gotten a good look at this area since the day that changed her life. It's where she was hit by a drunk driver.  

“I did not see or hear him coming," said Roberta. "After he hit me, he proceeded to hit my husband and then left us both.”

Roberta says the driver was highly intoxicated, driving with an open container of vodka in his car. The couple had just been having dinner with a friend that night on September 6, 2015. The last thing she remembers is seeing the street sign for Bird Ave. After striking the couple, the driver attempted to get away, only he couldn’t because David’s bike was still underneath the SUV. David was still on the road.  

"I panicked," David said. "My first thought was, I gotta get out of the road before someone runs me over, and I couldn’t even move.”

“He could have called a cab, taxi, friend, but he decided to get behind the wheel of his 5,000 pound SUV and use it as a weapon," Roberta said. "And it has profoundly changed out lives.”

Those who witnessed it all managed to keep the driver where there until the police came. Roberta and David were taken to the hosptial. David was lucky. He had to walk with a cane for a few weeks. Roberta’s injuries were much worse.  

“It was a long few weeks in the hospital," said Roberta. "My neck vertebrae was fractured. My clavicle was broken. My ribs broken. And then my femur was split.”

Roberta had to relearn some basics. How to brush her teeth, comb her hair, get dressed and tie her shoes. It took her six months to get back on a bike, but she could only go around the block. It took a year after the incident to go further. It took three years for Roberta to be able to bike again on Elmwood Avenue.

“I just felt this horrible anxiety about that night," Roberta said. "And yeah I just wish it never happened to me."

Now Roberta and David are on the mission to prevent other people from being hurt like they were. They’re part of a Victim Impact Panel, and they tell their experience to those who have gotten a DWI in the past year.  

“I hope they realize that there’s a huge human element to all this," said Roberta. "It’s completely preventable. Have a plan, have a backup plan, and just don’t get behind the wheel of a car."

The Anderson's say this was the second DWI their offender had received and they believe his attorney would have asked for a one-year sentence. They did not feel that was enough time to change his life, so they requested he receive probation for five years instead. 

They believe the probation protected the public for at least those five years and they hope gave him enough time to change his behavior.