It’s 2 a.m. and you are ready to leave your favorite watering hole. You’ve had a few drinks, but you don’t feel drunk and you decide to drive home. It is a decision that could land you in jail— even worse hospital— or a morgue.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 38 percent of the people killed in traffic crashes last year died in alcohol-related accidents. The number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities increased after five years of decline, according to the NHSTA.
Members of the Century Council, a group that fights alcohol abuse, drunk driving and underage drinking problems, stopped at The University of Memphis campus Wednesday to inform students of the dangers of drinking and driving.
“If you are going to go out on the weekends and drink, at least have a designated driver or someone you can call to drive you home,” said Jason Kline, a Lewisville, Texas, native and member of the Century Council funded by the nation’s leading distillers.
“This is one of the best crowds we’ve had on a campus in a while,” said Century Council member and Dallas native Dusty Bishop.
Bishop joined the Century Council two years ago and has since logged 73,559 miles on his tour of college campuses.
Beside educating students about the dangers of alcohol consumption, the Century Council is a powerful lobbying group that has pressed legislative bodies across the nation to pass tougher DUI laws and other measures designed to curb drunk driving.
Their legal strategy focuses on three areas: administrative license laws, zero tolerance laws for underage drinkers and “hardcore” drunk driver laws. “Hardcore” drunk drivers are repeat DUI offenders. This group accounts for less than 1 percent of drivers on the road but are responsible for over 50 percent of the alcohol-related traffic fatalities, according to the council.
Bishop and Kline travel in a modified truck equipped with computers and software designed to help students understand how alcohol consumption affects their bodies and how long it takes for the libations to wear off. Factors include the amount a person drinks, the amount of time in which the alcohol is consumed, age, gender and the person’s body weight.
One 22-year-old business student who wished to remain unidentified seemed stunned to learn that he was legally drunk when he drove home one night over Fall Break. The legal limit in Tennessee is .08 percent alcohol to blood. According to the information the student entered in the computer, his blood-alcohol level was slightly more than twice the legal limit.
“I didn’t know I was drunk, I didn’t feel drunk so I just decided to drive home,” he said. “I’m just glad I didn’t get pulled over or hurt somebody. I could have gotten in big trouble or killed somebody.”
