Every single year, it is nailed into our brains: do not drink and drive. Our parents beg us, school threatens us and yet driving while intoxicated is still one of the major issues WKU is facing. 

As students, we have to realize the safety of our campus is unquestionably correlated with the decisions we make. If we decide to drive drunk on campus, then campus immediately becomes unsafe for everyone. It is amazing that although the consequences of driving drunk have been preached to us from the time we were teenagers, a lot of people just don’t listen.

According to the WKU Police Campus Crime Log, in May 2015 there were 37 incident reports filed by campus police: 18 of those were DUI and alcohol intoxication arrests. When students returned to school, the arrests increased. The incident reports for August 2015 stated that 16 out of the 37 arrests made were DUI and intoxication arrests. 

These incidents are just the ones reported by the WKUPD; they leave out the students who got DUIs from Bowling Green Police Department. When students are arrested for driving under the influence, they are held in the Warren County Regional Jail until further notice. This is not the only outcome for drunk driving; the aftermath can be far more detrimental. 

When you get behind the wheel of a car, you risk not only your own life but also the lives of everyone around you. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2013 approximately 10,076 people were killed due to drunk driving. This makes up 31 percent of all traffic-related car accidents. 

We’ve all heard this before, I know. When will the consequences be enough to stop people from endangering their lives and the lives of others? When will safety be our No. 1 priority? 

In order to make safety higher on our priority list, try an alternative to drinking and driving. It’s a much better way to get around on weekends. Instead of driving to a party, you could walk or even call a designated driver to get you where you need to be safely. Another option is the Purple Line, which runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. The schedule can also be viewed on the WKU app.