Staff Editorial

Driving drunk has some serious side affects

On Sunday morning, which was more of a Saturday night for a few Texas teenagers, KHOU reported that a teen driver hit a curb on the 8500 block of the S. Sam Houston Parkway East, ran his truck into a field and finally dropped into a 30-foot construction pit.

The driver, 18-year-old James Benjamin Aulds, is being charged with intoxicated assault. He was transported to a nearby hospital in critical condition, and his 17-year-old female passenger was reported to be in stable condition.

Unfortunately, as the drunken couple fell into the hole, another 18-year-old, who was a friend of Aulds and his passenger, left his vehicle, ran to the pit to help his friends and ended up falling into it, breaking his neck and dying.

It’s said all the time, and most students brush it off as if it could never happen to them, but drinking and driving don’t mix.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a straight-A student here on a full-ride scholarship or if you’re only taking a few night classes.

If you drink and drive, you’ll end up in jail. And that’s if you’re lucky. If you’re unlucky, you could end up dead — or worse, you could end up costing a loved one their life. Is that where you want to be?

According to TexasDWI.org, Texas leads the nation in drunk driving crashes and fatalities, and, unfortunately, a lot of the people at fault are underage or barely legal, some of whom had their whole lives in front of them only to be drastically taken.

We know how stressful college is; we juggle our jobs here, jobs elsewhere, personal relationships and classes just like the rest of you. But no matter how stressful our lives become, it’s important to be responsible when drinking.

There are a number of ways college students can find rides these days. Of course, you can always ask a friend, but smart phone users can use the Internet, Facebook and Twitter to find rides as well.

And even if a taxi is your last resort, we promise you it’ll be $50 well spent. It’s cheaper than a funeral or a DWI, at least.

Leave a Comment