My R.A put up a new bulletin board this past week with all the facts about college issues concerning alcohol. At first I walked by and thought nothing of it. However, when my roommates and I stopped to read what was written on this bulletin board we were quite shocked. One of the facts written was that in the last year, 2.1 million people between the ages of 18 and 24 have driven drunk. 2.1 million! Was I shocked that people drink and drive? No, but I never thought that this many were. I cannot comprehend that people will go out to drink and then drive. My main concern after reading this was about a girl who died in my city after getting hit by a drunk driver. Many people between the ages of 18 and 24 do not go out to have one drink then go home. Lets be honest that they usually go out to get drunk with friends. It concerns me that this many drivers are out on the road every year. That is almost 6,000 drivers on the road drunk every night. Throughout high school I worked at a Youth Services job where I helped speak about the issues concerning underage drinking and even I was astonished by this number. Another fact on this board said that about 1700 students between the same ages die of accidental excessive drinking every year. Now I’m not saying that people shouldn’t drink. I’m just alarmed by these numbers. I think we should all be a little startled by this. Both of these facts hit home, after my friends sister died of excessive drinking. We can move on and pretend these numbers don’t matter and complain about having to take online alcohol tests, which I agree did stink, but in reality it really does matter in the end. I for one don’t want to see any of my friends die. Am I overreacting because in my opinion one death is too much and 1 drunk driver who could cause harm to an innocent person is too many. Is there anything anyone can do though? I’m not so sure.
