Tuesday, September 9, 2008
With more than 100 presidents of colleges around the nation calling to discuss changing the drinking age from 21 to 18, the debate about lowering the drinking age continues. However, in the process, two of the most important factors in deciding what to do continue to be ignored.
The first is simple rebellion. By nature, teenagers are rebellious. Most teenagers, and those close to being teenagers, are just going to do the opposite of what an authority figure tells them to do. Since the law is the ultimate authority, breaking the law is the ultimate rebellion. How do lawmakers not understand something so basic?
Even when a student leaves home, this attitude doesn’t change. The student now has more freedom. With this new freedom comes the freedom to make good as well as bad decisions. With little to no parental influence, peer pressure rising, and the disdain for authority always present, the probability of a student making a bad decision far outweighs that of making a good one.
These bad decisions have varying consequences. Some are minor and insignificant, like passing out and then waking up in a pool of your own vomit, but others are more serious, like injury or death. CNN reported a few weeks ago that 1,700 college students die each year in accidents related to drinking. Among the general population, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, nearly 13,000 people died in alcohol-related car accidents last year.
However, attacking alcohol for drunk driving is not only easy but also stupid. Banning all motor vehicles would make more sense. What should be attacked is the system that allows these bad decisions to continue. MADD ignores why people frequently drive drunk — because there is no other viable option.
If MADD wanted to accomplish something, it would encourage the development of public transit. This should be MADD’s only mission. Instead, in 2006 the organization launched an initiative to eliminate drunken driving forever by pushing for sobriety checkpoints, ignition interlock devices for convicted drunk drivers, vehicle technology to prevent drunk driving and public support. Strangely there is no mention of the simplest thing that should be done, which would be to increase funding for public transit systems, nor is there any mention of any other way to discourage people from driving.
Luckily, KU transit is not so obtuse. The University offers its free SafeRide service from 10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. on any evening. By showing a KUID, it will pick you up and take you home. Though SafeRide has been criticized for its frequent tardiness, KU On Wheels last year launched a free night bus on Friday and Saturday nights to further serve students. These buses run from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.
With the elimination of the bus pass this year, KU transit is rolling in the right direction while MADD continues to sit parked, wondering if it’s sober enough to continue driving its mad caravan into the abyss. Ultimately, it will be those drunken individuals sitting at home while thinking who are clear-headed enough to know why they’re not out exploring the world.
— — Mangiaracina is a Lenexa senior in journalism
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Comments
Mangiaracina: Public transit options prevent drunken driving
I ride safe bus drunk all the time! it's great! takes me to the bars, and back home again! no need to drive down to the bars, no need to spend money on gas. It's really convenient. I hope they can expand the service to serve more students in the coming years, or expand service to other nights of the week.
Mangiaracina: Public transit options prevent drunken driving
Safe ride is a joke! The line is always busy or if you were to get through to the operator the ride is never on time. Also if you live even remotely near a bar they won't take you there without proof of residence and even then that might not work. They need to fix it asap because the frustration of trying to get safe ride is pushing people to drive drunk more and more.
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