In college, the typical norm is to party and drink all night long. I could go with the stereotypical "just don’t drink," but that would be pretty useless. College students will drink, but the worst thing you could do is drive while intoxicated. The amount of consequences and risks involved with drunk driving are a lot higher than I thought they were, and frankly some of it is frightening.

First off, what can be considered legally drunk for a DUI? If a person’s blood alcohol concentration is equal to or over .08% then they are legally drunk. Keep in mind if the concentration is .05% - .08% a person can still be cited if they look to be impaired. Now not all states have the same rules, so people think if they drive to another state and get caught there they might not face any trouble. For some states they have a thing called a 'reciprocal agreement.' If you get caught there, you face the consequences here.

When an officer pulls someone over, they go to determine your BAC (blood alcohol concentration). If you fail the test your license gets suspended for 6 months, but if you refuse to take the test, the officer will immediately revoke your license for 12 months. The minimum amount of money to get your license back alone is around $775, not to mention the time for certain programs you have to attend. This does not include any criminal penalties.

For a first offense alone, if you are older than 21, your license is revoked for a year. If you are under 21, your license is revoked for two years. The maximum jail time is six months and the minimum fine is $1,000. This does not include community service. Your financial troubles do not stop there; sometimes the fees amount to $17,000. This is the kind of money that people pay to go to college, yet it is being wasted on a stupid decision.

Terry Galanoy, in his article First-Time offenders don’t get off easy, says that first offenders are taken very seriously now, with good reason. In 2006, 54% of all fatal crashes due to intoxication were younger than 34. Of that total, 13% were from the age of 16-20. That is the age where most are just starting to get their license. Depending on how high your BAC is a lawyer might not even be able to help you. Having a DUI conviction is an everlasting stain on you. It does not matter if you are a doctor, a lawyer, or the pizza guy. It will affect your reputation forever, and may even ruin your professional credentials.

In an article, Alcohol-Impaired Driving, the author gives statistics of the amount of fatalities due to drunk driving incidents in 2013. In total, 10,076 people were killed in alcohol-related car crashes. This means that one fatality occurred every 52 minutes. The amount of people killed, accounted for 31% of all motor-vehicle crashes in the United States that year. A little over 8,000 of those killed were people driving under the influence of alcohol, or were passengers inside of the vehicle. The other 2,000 were occupants of other vehicles involved, or were just bystanders. 200 of the people killed were children, ages 14 and under. 121 of them were occupants of the vehicles, but 29 were just pedestrians or on their bikes and they got struck by the cars. In these crashes, 33% of all of the drivers were 21-24 years old. 29% ranged from 25-34 years old. The range of BAC measurements taken in these crashes ranged from .01 to .45 or higher. The most recorded that year was .17.

Thanks to the article, A Snapshot of Annual High-Risk College Drinking Consequences, we see a snapshot of the consequences someone our age can face. The latest information given on this statistic was 2013, but that does not make it any less accurate. All of these statistics are 18-24 year olds in college. There have been 1,825 deaths due to alcohol-related incidents and in total 599,000 injuries, including drunk driving. The number of assaults by drunks is a grand total of 696,000. Sexual assault and rape is also at a high number of 97,000 and unsafe sex is at a total of 400,000 with 100,000 of them being too intoxicated to know if they gave consent. The number of people that have been caught drinking and driving is a grand total of 3,360,000.

I know that having an article with all these statistics might not stop people from drinking. That isn’t the goal. There are already so many risks involved with drinking, but putting yourself or another intoxicated person behind the wheel is where a line needs to be drawn. Public transportation can also be used in this situation. Designated driving might seem stupid and dumb, but it can save someone’s life, and a way to make up for it is to treat that person later. None of the consequences mentioned above are worth drinking and driving. While people will drink, they should try to have plans on how to get somewhere safe afterwards, because the consequences are not worth a couple hours of good time.

Sources:

Traffic Safety Facts. NHTSA, Dec. 2014. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.

"A Snapshot of Annual High-Risk College Drinking Consequences." College Drinking –

Changing the Culture. N.p., 1 Mar. 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.

"DUI & DWI in Illinois." DMV. org. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2015

Terry, Galanoy. "First-time driving offenders don't get off easy ." CNN. N.p., 5 Nov. 2008. Web.

8 Nov. 2015.