Drinking “Wisconsibly” has a dark side: drunk driving.
This week, a new bill was introduced stating a person’s driver’s license would be revoked … only after five DUIs. As Sen. Tim Carpenter says, “We have one of the biggest problems in the nation, and yet we have some of the fewest solutions to correct it.”
Wisconsin is unique in the sense that it is the only state that does not criminalize first-time drunk driving offenses. Along with that, Wisconsin is also ranked the highest in terms of binge-drinking. Anyone with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or higher is considered impaired by law, and should not operate a motorized vehicle.
Recently, Wisconsin has received national attention, and it has not been flattering. Wisconsinites should be embarrassed with article titles like “Wisconsin loves its drunk drivers” surfacing over the Internet.
As a Badger, it’s easy to take pride in our ability to drink. Drinking is part of the culture for many students attending the University of Wisconsin. Most students are quick to boast our title as one of the top party schools in the country and their ability to “out-drink” students from most other colleges. Embracing this culture isn’t necessarily bad, as long as students are safe and responsible.
But we cannot acknowledge Wisconsin as a drinking state without talking about the negative aspects of this culture.
Drinking and getting behind the wheel of a car is a truly terrible thing. Between 2003 and 2012, 2,577 people were killed in crashes involving a drunk driver in the state of Wisconsin.
For perspective, that’s the size of the population of students currently living at Witte, Sellery and Cole combined. This is absolutely unacceptable and can easily be changed.
The number of deaths caused by drunk driving should be zero.
Lenient DUI laws need to be changed, and everyone in the state of Wisconsin can play a part in this change.
A recent study performed by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compared drunk driving instances between the nation and Wisconsin. 1.9 percent of people nationwide reported driving after drinking too much in the past 30 days, with a staggering 3.1 percent for individuals in Wisconsin.
There is no fathomable situation in which drinking and driving is ever justifiable. Getting behind the wheel after consuming alcohol is never a good decision and it risks the lives of everyone involved. There are countless stories that describe tragedies of drunk driving destroying families and taking loved ones, and every single instance is a situation that could have been avoided entirely.
This is truly an epidemic, and we can do better in Wisconsin.
This state is incredible in so many ways, but this dark problem is something that cannot be fixed unless everyone is fully invested in a solution. It’s as simple as never deciding to get behind the wheel of a vehicle while intoxicated.
Drunk driving so often results in tragic consequences, and it needs to stop.
Hannah Fricke ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in microbiology.
