Tough laws don’t scare drunk drivers

ANGELINA WAGNER STAFF WRITER

AMW722@CABRINI EDU

It’s a brisk Saturday night and there’s a sense of excitement that seems to hang in the air for Cabrini students milling about in house five (Casey House). Life bustles wildly inside as many of its residents are getting ready to “go out tonight.” There are doors slamming, people are yelling down the hallway to “hurry up and pick out an outfit,” cell phones are ringing and the infamous express line to the shower is moving right along, leaving trails of soggy footprints behind from drenched shower sandals.

Eighteen miles from Radnor, Pa., Philadelphia Police Officer Raymond Plymouth, is on Delaware Avenue near Summer Street responding to a hit and run call. Adrunk driver crashes into Plymouth’s police car. Plymouth’s body post-impact now consists of a broken pelvis, four broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, bruised kidneys and liver and knocked-out teeth. The driver that hit Plymouth had no injuries. “I was perplexed. I’ve locked up so many DUIs that I didn’t think I was ever going to get hit by a drunk driver. It’s given me a new outlook on life,” Plymouth said.

According to Poynter, drunk driving laws were toughened over a year ago but according to statistics during the first 11 months, from Feb. 1, 2004 to the end of that year, half of those charged with drunk driving had a blood-alcohol content of 0.16 percent or higher, twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent. “I feel that the laws need to be made tougher. It doesn’t just affect the operator but also the family Anybody can drink, as long as you drink responsibly,” Plymouth said.

Efforts everyday are made by advocates to put a stop to the staggering statistics of drunk drivers. Charlie Schaffner, the director of public safety, said

“There have been a couple of incidents on Cabrini’s campus, but they’ve involved the police coming to campus for other reasons and them bumping into, stopping and arresting people for drunk driving.”

Every 30 minutes, almost 50 people are killed by impaired drivers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This means approximately 2,400 people a day die as a result of a drunk driver An impaired driver is defined as “someone whose performance of driving tasks are reduced due to the effects of alcohol or other drugs,” according to NHTSA.

Kristin Poroski, a junior elementary and special education major, recalls how drunk driving has affected her life. “My brother left the bar one night, thinking that

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