2008 Woodie Awards
Option A: drive drunk, option B: don't
HSU starts new program to end drunk driving
Derek Lactaoen
Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: News
You are drunk at a friend's house. You stand up and stumble into the wall. The smell of alcohol springs off of you like a plume of smoke. You can barely see straight but still you laugh, assuring everyone that you are fine: then, you reach into your pocket for your car keys.
Option A: Drive home drunk.
Option B: Call a cab. Ask a friend to drive you home. Find a designated driver. Or stay the night at your friend's house.
Option B is a new program put on by Humboldt State University's alcohol education director Meg Ciuffetelli. It emphasizes the choices that are involved with drunken driving and the idea that it can be prevented.
"The way we're approaching the problem of drunken driving is that every crash, every injury, every death, it's all 100 percent preventable," she said.
Ciuffetelli's position at Humboldt State started this semester. It is funded by a grant from the California Highway Patrol and the California Office of Traffic Safety.
Ciufftetelli said that Option B is mainly a University Police Department project; however, the Student Health Center is also involved.
"It's a community responsibility to prevent impaired driving," university police department Officer John Packer said. "We need to live by the principle that I'm going to help you out, because not helping you would leave open the option for you to get in the car and drive intoxicated."
Besides physical injury, driving drunk can also leave a dent in one's wallet. The California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs states that a charge of driving under the influence can cost upwards of $5,500 for penalty fees, impound charges, insurance increases, treatment programs and a variety of other fees. After attorney fees, that cost will be even more.
Ciuffetelli hopes Option B will expand outwards, starting with students and then reaching into the community where many alcohol-related collisions and injuries take place.
Packer said that in 2006, the Arcata Police Department recorded 18 collisions associated with people who drive under the influence of alcohol. That number does not include arrests made. In the same year, Mothers Against Drunk Driving estimated that 17,602 people died from an alcohol-related traffic accident. That averages out to one person every 30 seconds.
Option A: Drive home drunk.
Option B: Call a cab. Ask a friend to drive you home. Find a designated driver. Or stay the night at your friend's house.
Option B is a new program put on by Humboldt State University's alcohol education director Meg Ciuffetelli. It emphasizes the choices that are involved with drunken driving and the idea that it can be prevented.
"The way we're approaching the problem of drunken driving is that every crash, every injury, every death, it's all 100 percent preventable," she said.
Ciuffetelli's position at Humboldt State started this semester. It is funded by a grant from the California Highway Patrol and the California Office of Traffic Safety.
Ciufftetelli said that Option B is mainly a University Police Department project; however, the Student Health Center is also involved.
"It's a community responsibility to prevent impaired driving," university police department Officer John Packer said. "We need to live by the principle that I'm going to help you out, because not helping you would leave open the option for you to get in the car and drive intoxicated."
Besides physical injury, driving drunk can also leave a dent in one's wallet. The California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs states that a charge of driving under the influence can cost upwards of $5,500 for penalty fees, impound charges, insurance increases, treatment programs and a variety of other fees. After attorney fees, that cost will be even more.
Ciuffetelli hopes Option B will expand outwards, starting with students and then reaching into the community where many alcohol-related collisions and injuries take place.
Packer said that in 2006, the Arcata Police Department recorded 18 collisions associated with people who drive under the influence of alcohol. That number does not include arrests made. In the same year, Mothers Against Drunk Driving estimated that 17,602 people died from an alcohol-related traffic accident. That averages out to one person every 30 seconds.
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 6
Elijah Portugal
Elijah Portugal
posted 3/01/08 @ 1:10 PM PST
I agree that something should be done to try to curtail drunk driving and I also agree that the campus police and/or the campus in general should do something proactive to address the issue. (Continued…)
Jason Robo
posted 3/06/08 @ 6:05 PM PST
We should legalize pot so that way drunkeness isn't promoted so easily and strongly. The college campuses are a prime market for the soulless crooks in the alcohol industry. (Continued…)
John Robert
posted 9/15/08 @ 4:59 PM PST
Hi.This is John.It is very bad habbit to drink and drive.
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JOHN
California Dui
what?
posted 9/16/08 @ 5:42 PM PST
Jason:
There have been a number of studies which have looked at this issue and most have found that cannabis smoking does degrade driving performance. (Continued…)
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