A study from the University of Maryland suggests that 1 out of 5 college students admits to driving after drinking alcohol and 40% of college students admit to getting in the car with an intoxicated driver.
This past week I spoke to one student about his experiences with drunk driving on campus. He asked ELN to keep his identity a secret.
When asked if he had ever driven on Elon's campus after consuming alcohol the anonymous student stated that he had. The student was then asked if he had ever been a passenger in someones car when they knew that the driver was intoxicated to which the student replied "definitely have."
The student says that he knows the dangers of drunk driving but sometimes puts connivence over safety.
"Convenience is usually prioritized but, personally I know that when I am really drunk, I'm never going to drive. Usually when I do it's for pretty borderline cases when I know that I am pretty capable. It never crosses my mind that I'm not capable of driving. It's just the thought of getting pulled over and getting a breathalyzer and the law being against me, not on my side."
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Elon has safer ways to get around campus late at night, the most well known being Safe Rides. The anonymous student explained why he gets behind the wheel instead of calling the student group.
"It has a reputation of sometimes taking a long time. In an inebriated state you aren't really thinking about the future and probably don't want to be waiting around for a ride," he said.
The long wait time is something that incoming Safe Rides director, Lauren Brady recognizes as one of Safe Rides biggest issues.
"That's our biggest problem in the program right now, we have longer wait times just because of more popularity. We are trying to add more vehicles, which is a big push right now," said Brady.
Some call Elon a "bubble" but that shouldn't make students more likely to drink and drive.
"I think that at Elon we pay a lot more attention to it so I don't think its a smart move here. I don't think that the Elon bubble should encourage that so much, I think that it should discourage it, especially with the amount of cops we have on campus," said Brady.
While drinking and driving remains to be a big issue on campuses nationwide, what really can be done to stop it?
According to Lauren Brady: "There isn't a lot you can really do to prevent it other than the persons decisions so I guess the only thing you can really do is educate others on the dangers of it. They just think they are getting in a car and going down the road but that's when the worst can happen"