In 2009, 10,839 people died in drunk-driving accidents — that’s one death every 50 minutes.
Early Saturday morning, University of Idaho students Wyatt Smith and Benson Sternberg were killed in a rollover on Randall Flat Road in Troy in which alcohol is believed to be a factor. Four other UI students were taken to Gritman Medical Center.
Our condolences go out to the families of the victims, and students should remember that help is available on campus as we mourn the deaths of our peers. But there is a lesson to be learned in the midst of this tragedy.
Under no circumstances is driving drunk a choice any person should make. Although it’s a message most of us have heard since kindergarten, we tend to belittle its importance. As college students we have the mentality that we are forever young and indestructible, and something as horrible as dying in a drunk driving accident could never happen. It’s unfortunate that it takes the death of one or two of our peers for the reality of drunk driving sink in.
College culture exposes students to new freedoms, including the freedom to drink alcohol. But with this newfound freedom comes responsibility — responsibility to make decisions protecting your own safety and the safety of people around you.
Our parents, older siblings and mentors implore us to use common sense: If you are going to drink, stay in one place. Designate a sober driver. Don’t binge drink. But when circumstances involving alcohol arise that require us to act like adults, we continuously ignore their advice. Every year UI students are injured and killed in alcohol-related incidents, and the greatest tragedy regarding incidents like Saturday’s is that they are easily prevented.
All it takes is one person. One person to stand up and say drunk driving is wrong, one person to take responsibility for their actions and put the safety of themselves and their friends above having fun. It takes courage to stand up to our peers, but that courage could save a life.
About one in three people will be involved with an alcohol-related death in their lifetime — don’t be that person.
–EE