On Saturday night, Lincoln police officers took 17 drunk drivers off the road. Think about that. Seventeen. Those are just the ones who were caught.
I don't think I'll ever understand the mentality of those who get behind the wheel after drinking. You might hurt or kill somebody else. You might hurt or kill yourself (as one of my cousins did). And even if you manage not to run into anything or anyone, you might get arrested. Considering how simple the alternative is -- have a sober person on hand to drive you home -- I just can't fathom why anybody wouldn't utilize it.
Then again, this is coming from a guy who drinks so little alcohol he can actually remember every drink he's had in his life. I'm not exactly wired for empathy on this topic.
In any event, be careful out there, folks.
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Amen.
I’m not standing up for them. And I will sadly say I was one of them several times in college. It’s not fair to compare lincoln to Seoul with 24million people, but there is always public transportation here as an alternative. I remember many times calling a taxi a 1:00am (and around that time) only to get a busy signal from all the taxi companies. Stupidly, I sometimes drove, mostly (even more stupidly) I rode with another person who I perceived to be less drunk.
It’s easy to say have a sober person there. But let’s be honest. Most people who would choose to be sober on a Saturday night, would be, rightfully so, annoyed, inconvenienced, and/or bored by having to hang out with a group of loud thoughtless drunks all night in order to drive them home.
I understand Lincoln can’t support a full blown taxi-always-around-to-pick-you-up environment. But I would think that the companies could make quite a bit of money by hiring a few more driver for the weekend.
Would some community groups sponsor a lower taxi rate for those times to help keep the streets safe?
Could the taxi companies themselves make more money if they lowered the prices to attract more customers during that time?
In a college city, with a lot of centralized bars…there’s an under-served market here.
Another service that exist here is a taxi service where they drive you home in your own car for an extra fee!
17 stops seems like a lot. But, for those of us who have waited in line to get out of a downtown parking garage at 1:00am and saw all the people climbing into the cars…there needs to be better options. Because as long as the ratio is as low as 17-all the people drinking on a Sat night…people will still take their chances on the road.
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