The Call That Changed Everything
Inside the growing crisis of drunk driving among college students
—By Zachary Sheena
When my mom got the call on May 3rd, 2023, her world shattered. A wrong-way drunk driver plowed into the car my friends and I were in. Two of them are gone. They were murdered. That call marked the moment everything in my life changed—when “drunk driving” stopped being just a statistic and became something real, raw, and irreparable.
Every day, somewhere in America, another parent gets a similar call. Despite awareness campaigns, new technology, health consciousness, increasing sobriety, and stricter laws, people still continue to get behind the wheel after drinking. Especially among college students nationwide, this problem has evolved into an uncontrollable public health and safety crisis. The National Library of Medicine states that “25% of college students have driven while intoxicated.”
The investigation raises an important investigative question: Why do people still drive under the influence despite all the knowledge we have—and how can we finally put an end to drunk driving for good?
A national epidemic that hits close to home
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 12,429 people died in car crashes from alcohol in 2023—this is equal to about one person every 42 minutes. Alcohol-related car accidents have resulted in about 30 percent of all traffic fatalities in that year.
The numbers are even worse among young drivers. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) reports that in 2018, among college students between 18 and 24, 1,825 died from unintentional injuries that correlate with alcohol abuse, many of which were motor vehicle accidents.
A study published by the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs finds that between 16 and 30 percent of college students have admitted to drinking and driving. On top of that, about 40 percent have been driven by someone who was intoxicated. The numbers also show that drunk driving rates are significantly increasing among people after they reach the legal drinking age of 21 by about 72% more than if they were below the legal age. Legal drinking gives young adults more access and independence to make these poor decisions.
This problem isn’t confined to just statistics. These problems have arisen in college towns all across the country—from the busy streets of Ann Arbor to the small rural campuses where driving is much more common among students. Despite the awareness raised, this poor behavior persists, raising questions about the culture that has made it acceptable across the country.
“Everyone thinks it won’t happen to them”
To look into this issue further, I have spoken with individuals who have encountered drunk driving from many different perspectives, who were all impacted by the decision to drink and drive.
The college student
Joey Rice, a Division I lacrosse player at Stony Brook University, often finds himself as the designated driver. “It’s kind of become my job,” he explains. “I’m the one who makes sure everyone gets home safe. When people are drunk, they think they are in the right headspace to do just about anything. In reality, they are capable of doing pretty much nothing. So many times I have heard people around me discuss having just one drink or figuring it out later.”
Rice’s perspective shows us the pattern of drinking on college campuses across the country. Even when students know the risks, it’s just an afterthought until it happens to them. In any situation that involves alcohol, there should be a plan for both legal and safe transportation. “People think they’re in control of themselves, but they clearly are not,” he says.
The first responder
Greg Fortunoff, a successful business owner and volunteer EMT, has seen the devastating consequences of driving under the influence. “The worst part about this is that most of these accidents are preventable,” Fortunoff says.
For first responders like Fortunoff, the repetition of tragedy breeds frustration. “Whether it’s this or any other threats to public health, it must come to an end. Many people think calling a car or having someone come get them is an inconvenience, but what’s inconvenient is a good life ending way too soon.”
The coach
Kerianne Janotte, a tennis coach at Roslyn High School, recalls the aftermath when students on her tennis team were hit by a wrong-way drunk driver, where two of the kids were killed. “It changes everything,” she says. “As a coach, you spend years teaching responsibility, teamwork, and self-control. One bad decision can erase it all.” Her message is very simple: every single decision counts.
The illusion of control
One of the most common justifications for drunk driving is the belief that “I can handle it.” The illusion of control—combined with the impaired judgment that comes from alcohol—creates a cognitive blind spot. Drivers think they are much more capable than they actually are.
Along with this, alcohol diminishes reaction time and coordination and causes bad decision-making. Through all of this, people will still claim they aren’t drunk. As the NHTSA notes, even a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of 0.02% can reduce one’s ability to perform tasks. With the legal limit being 0.08%, it shows the exact problem with legislation surrounding drunk driving.
Peer pressure and social acceptance
College students across the country operate within “social norms” where drinking is not only accepted but is expected. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), about 53% of college students reported drinking in the last month, with 33% of them engaging in binge drinking. “When you’re surrounded by people who constantly drink without consequence, they feel invincible and don’t think about the magnitude of their actions. They get behind the wheel because they convince themselves that they are capable,” says Rice.
Delayed consequences
Unlike a hangover, the consequences of drunk driving aren’t always immediate. Many students and adults drive intoxicated several times without incident, directly reinforcing the false belief that this poor decision is “okay.” This is a clear example of what psychologists call intermittent reinforcement, whereby people convince themselves that wrong decisions that lead to successful outcomes are good decisions.
Accessibility to safe transportation
In smaller college towns, transportation options may be limited or expensive. This leads some students to begin rationalizing driving under the influence. The interesting dynamic is that people can afford the drinks but say they can’t afford the ride home. As Rice notes, “People don’t want to wait for these Ubers to come or spend the money.”
Emotional detachment
Perhaps one of the most tragic reasons that people don’t make good decisions in terms of drunk driving is the emotional distance that some people have from it. Until one personally loses someone they love to drunk driving, the issue remains abstract. The statistics are huge, but people don’t feel the numbers.
Michigan: A reflection of a national problem
In Michigan, driving is often essential, and winter roads add significant risk. According to the Michigan State Police, there were 9,331 alcohol-induced crashes in 2022, which led to numerous deaths and injuries.
The University of Michigan and nearby campuses have made efforts to address this issue. There were programs put in place, like “Stay in the Blue,” that encourage responsible drinking and provide resources and safety tips.
Despite these initiatives, many challenges remain. Although the sobriety rate is increasing, so is drunk driving. Students are still stubborn and refuse to call Ubers, even though they know it is unsafe. At the end of the day, most don’t recognize the magnitude of this problem until it’s one of their loved ones. “My community was broken into a million pieces, but it was already too late,” Rice says.
Expanding transportation options
Access to convenient modes of transportation has become one of the most effective ways to prevent drinking and driving at the University of Michigan. In Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan and Lyft partnered to improve students’ access to safe, affordable rides. Every night beginning at 8 pm., rides are heavily discounted for students to encourage carpooling rather than driving. This has made late-night transportation much safer around campus, but there will always be those stubborn people who think they are invincible.
On the other hand, the Michigan and Lyft partnership is not universal across college campuses in the United States. Off-campus students still face transportation issues, along with those in much more remote areas with fewer available modes of transportation. “Convenience plays a huge role,” says Rice. “If getting a ride home is easy, people will take it. If it’s hard or expensive, they’ll take their chances.”
Technology and policy
There are many emerging technologies that may soon help make drunk driving detection automatic. Under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, which is still active, the NHTSA is encouraged to help create a financial rule that would direct all new vehicles sold from 2026 onward to include impaired-driving prevention systems. These innovations will help to monitor driver alertness and detect erratic driving. Though these policies will definitely be helpful, the real change that would make a difference would be to require a breathalyzer to start any type of vehicle, which is very popular among many safe-driving initiatives, but very economically unfeasible. On the other hand, policy is lagging way too far behind for this day and age. The legal limit is still 0.08% which is too high considering people become impaired before that. Though groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) are trying to lower the legal limit starting in certain states in order to find better ways for marijuana testing, there is a lot of pushback to this legislation.
One policy solution is drunk-driving checkpoints. This includes police officers blocking off certain areas randomly and administering breathalyzers. This technique has scared many people into making sure they are not drinking and driving. The problem is that this is extremely expensive, and there isn’t enough manpower to administer these checkpoints.
Education through empathy
The most powerful way to change the landscape of drunk driving is through personal stories. These stories need to be told. Survivors like myself need to continue speaking up and sharing their stories with everyone they encounter.
As a survivor, every time I share my story, each and every person’s face drops. The tears begin rolling down their faces. They think about my friends who passed away, and they feel connected to my story. They feel connected to the young teenager who has to live each day knowing that he barely made it out. That is the story that moves people.
Living with the aftermath
The crash that killed two of my friends left me with injuries, flashbacks, and questions that I will never be able to answer. But it also gave me perspective. I’ve learned that prevention is not just about numbers but about personal connections.
When I speak to people or write about this topic, I try to make the reader feel the emotions that I feel. Until people can imagine the phone call my mother received that night, they will keep thinking it could never happen to them.
The call we can still prevent
Drunk driving isn’t some accident. Drunk driving is a choice that is made before the keys leave the counter. Drunk driving is preventable, which makes it even more unbearable.
The research and statistics demonstrate the extent to which this problem has grown. We owe it to the families who lost their children to this disgusting act to make the world a better place. We can prevent this. We just have to decide that one life lost is already too many.
Though a survivor, my friends were taken from me. They were murdered. Their absence echoes every single day. My heart doesn’t beat the same without them. The pain and suffering from the hospital that night brings me back to that dark place of not being sure if I was ever going to walk again. Preventing that is exactly why we must keep fighting.
Feature Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash