Every one of you knows that drinking and driving is a poor health and a poor life decision. However, I would venture to guess that at least a few of you have either driven drunk or "just a little buzzed," or ridden in a vehicle with someone who had been drinking. We all grew up watching public service commercials and reciting the safe driving mantra—and yet, sometimes it happens. I realize not everyone has a car, and a lot of people don't see driving drunk as a problem on Bowdoin's campus. I think and hope that they are correct, but mistakes can be made and we all have hometowns with Spring Break on the horizon; it couldn't hurt to review the billboards one more time.
I know the BAC limit is 0.08, but what does that mean in drinks?
It could, unfortunately, mean a lot of different things depending on who you are; the limit isn't a number of drinks because alcohol affects people differently. First of all, I should clarify, that the legal limit is only 0.08 for those students here that are over 21. For all the rest of you still waiting for that fateful day, any measurable amount of alcohol in your blood is against the law.
Anyway, as to the number of drinks, it depends on your size, gender and the time period over which you consumed the drinks. A big guy drinking two beers slowly over two hours would probably be OK to drive, whereas a small girl taking two shots in a half-hour, not so much. Personally, I think the best way to go is if you are driving don't drink at all, unless it's a glass of wine or beer at dinner in a regular sized glass, which is probably fine. Stay smart, leave plenty time to get the alcohol out of your system and plan in advance. The alternative is potentially facing jail time or worse. If need be, check the BAC cards that were passed around at the beginning of the year, I usually have mine on me when I go out so feel free to ask.
I was at a party and saw someone who was obviously intoxicated getting into a car. What do I do in that situation?
I would say most of us have been in this situation, and it's never good. The first thing to do is confront the person. Not in a threatening or judgmental way—maybe confront is not the best word—but you want to be firm and assertive. If you are not comfortable with this do your best to find someone who is or knows the person. While you don't want to attack the person, you do want to be firm because most of the time he or she will insist that they are fine. Bear in mind, they may actually think this.
Try your best to reason with them. If this doesn't work, try to get them to come back into the party where you can keep an eye on them and perhaps take the keys. Often a person just wants to get home, so if the party happens to be at your place you could offer them a place to sleep. If not, you can offer to walk them home or get into a Shuttle with them. The Shuttle and Security are great for this. If you see a person making moves to drive home, call Security or the shuttle to preemptively stop the attempt, because it gives them a quick alternative.
If all else fails and the person is getting angry and aggressive, Security is the best option. Security has been trained to deal with these situations, and their primary objective is to keep everyone safe. Again, think of the potential alternatives, and Security—which already looks pretty good—begins to look even better, and trust me that's not the beer goggles.
What do you do when you've been drinking, but then a freak snowstorm happens and a parking ban is called where you were going to leave your car for the night?
Wow. Well that's first of all really bad luck. Sometimes the unexpected happens I guess. I would say your best bet is to call a friend who has not been drinking. On any given night, I have at least one friend who is not drinking at the same time I am. Hopefully this will not lead to a bit of an awkward moment, that friend being left off that mass e-mail list and all, but I would say that is rare. Most of the time you will have someone sober in your phonebook who you feel comfortable enough to call for help in this time of crisis.
If by some freak accident this parking ban has occurred, and everyone in your phonebook has been drinking with you, and a blizzard (not the ice cream kind) hits the town of Brunswick, this would be a time to call Security. Even if the parking ban is a Brunswick parking ban, Security is there to keep us safe and part of that is keeping us off the roads, even in short distances, if we have been drinking. Give them a call, explain the situation politely and they will do what they can to help you. Seriously though, I am pretty sure that you know someone willing to help you out. Avoiding driving drunk, even in the event of a surprise parking ban, is totally possible and plausible.
Hope I helped. Everyone, drive and ride safe and sober. If you have questions you'd like answered by Peer Health, drop a note in SU box 456.