Students need designated drivers

With the conclusion of Fall Break and Thanksgiving coming up soon, before you know it Christmas Break will be here.

This means that alcohol will be consumed by a lot of college students across the country.

It's perfectly natural for college students to drink or even just think about drinking. If I were to ask someone to give me words that are associated with college they would probably say something along the lines of: homework, class, and alcohol.

We all just need to enjoy our beverages responsibly and designate a driver.

Drinking and driving is one of the most dangerous and probably one of the most avoidable things that could go on with college students.

Thousands of deaths across the nation each year could be prevented if we just made a phone call or gave our keys away to a buddy and had them give us a ride home.

When most people go out on the town and party, or go wherever they go to enjoy their drinks, they usually don't plan ahead of time and designate a driver.

I believe that kids starting in college should be educated a lot more about the importance of designating a driver. We've all known someone or have been close to someone who knows someone who has been victim to a drunken driver.

I believe our society is starting to do a better job of telling us to get a designated driver. In the past few months I've seen several public service announcements on television telling us the importance of not driving drunk.

We pretty much can all agree that the funniest commercials on T.V. are beer commercials.

In the past they have mainly been geared at just getting us to buy their product because the people that drink it are sexy and cool, but now they're countering those commercials with ones telling us to drink responsibly and designate a driver.

For example, I saw a Captain Morgan commercial recently that showed a group of guys getting a friend to drive them home after a night of drinking and made them look cool for it.

I thought that was a good and unique way of advertising.

It's perfectly fine for you to have a good time and enjoy a drink if you're 21, but please be responsible if you do so.

Call a friend beforehand and have that person pick you up or take a friend out with you that won't drink that will be able to drive you home safely.

Recently Ottawa University students have gotten creative and created a new business venture centered around drunken driving, and more specifically, designating a driver.

This new service, called SAFE'RIDE'US, is designed for students to call and make an appointment for someone to come pick them up after they're done at the bar if they think they're going to be drinking, and more importantly, if they think they'll be more than a little inebriated.

You'll probably notice an e-mail in your student inbox about SAFE'RIDE'US.

Only time will tell if it will prove useful to students and prevent the unimaginable.

The fact of the matter is, you should never take the chance when it comes to alcohol and driving.

Just don't ever get behind the wheel if you've had too much. It could affect you along with many other innocent people.