How Drunk is TOO Drunk to Drive

Friday night. Get Ready. Find the Party. Get the text. Grab your keys. You’re off. Walk in. See your friends. Flirt with a cute guy/girl. Take a shot. Have a beer. Take funny pictures. Slap the bag. Get dared to do a keg stand. Dance with your friends. Chug a beer. Time to go home.

This sounds like a normal Friday night for most students at Bloomsburg. Most of the houses and apartments students are partying at are within walking distance to one another. But now that the temperature is dropping, walking downtown just does NOT seem like an option. So more students rely on driving themselves to parties.

We have all seen the movies and heard the line “No officer I’m not drunk, I’ve only had two drinks”. But how drunk is too drunk to drive? The answer is: Any level of DRUNK is too drunk to drive!

So what can you do? The Drunk Bus.

The Drunk Bus(es) are big yellow school buses that drive through Bloomsburg Thursday-Saturday nights 11-2am picking up students and transporting them safely to different parts of town.

The best thing about the buses are that they are FREE! Another good thing about the bus is students can rest assure that once on board; they will be safe. The police cannot pull over the school bus and arrest the students on it.

However, police can question and discipline students who are waiting for the bus or who have gotten off the bus who show signs of public drunkenness.

But if you are really worried about the long walk this weekend here are some tips.

1) Dress a little more conservatively. Take an old sweatshirt or coat with you to stash in a corner. That way if something happens to it so you aren’t heartbroken that your favorite Northface is now covered in Natty Light.

Or wear a pair of old jeans over a dress or skirt as you walk downtown. Before walking in, take them off and stash them in your bag- no one will know the difference and you will be much warmer!

2) Have a friend on call. Tell a friend who isn’t going out or who isn’t planning on drinking that you may need a ride home tonight. This way you won’t anger your sober and sleeping friends. This also helps your friends check up on you and keep you accountable for how much you’ve been drinking.

3) If you do drive to the party, find a LEGAL place to park your car for the night. Cover your valuables and lock the car. Find a safe place to stash your keys or give them to a sober friend so you don’t lose them as you enjoy the party. Then take the Drunk Bus home.

While the Drunk Bus is at no cost to students, there is a tip jar in the front. Before you dismiss the idea, put yourself in the driver’s shoes. They will be driving a big yellow school in circles until the wee hours of the morning. Their passengers are a bunch of screaming drunk kids singing and laughing- so unless this sounds like something you’re dying to sign up for, dig a dollar or two out and give the nice driver a tip.

MYTHS about DRINKING:

Devouring a burger/hot dog/bread after drinking all night will help you sober up.

FALSE The liver can break down alcohol at a rate of about 0.5 oz. per hour. This is about half the alcohol in an average drink, LESS if your drink is strong or above 80 proof.

Once you have begun to drink and the alcohol is in your bloodstream, nothing can speed this rate. Not caffeine. Not food. Not water. Not fresh air. Not a cold shower. You might be full, cold, and clean but you won’t be any less drunk.

Taking a nap will help you sober up.

FALSE Sleeping does not increase the rate at which your body can process the alcohol in your system, a lot like the food myth. So if you have ever had a rough night and found yourself to still be drunk in the morning, it’s because there is no such thing as “sleeping it off”.

This also goes for being able to drive home the next morning. Just because you have gone to bed does not mean you couldn’t be arrested for DUI the morning after if the alcohol hasn’t processed the whole way through your liver.

Switching between beer, wine, and liquor will make you drunker.

False: Mixing types of drinks may make you sicker by upsetting your stomach, but not more intoxicated. Alcohol is alcohol.