Collegiate Times

As many Virginia Tech students will tell you, there is no better ending to a long week than the promise of a weekend downtown or partying with friends.

Amid all the noise and scantily clad people, one can happily forget about school and work, saving the papers and studying for a lazy Sunday instead. And if we truly want to forget, we can drown ourselves in enough mixed-drinks and beers to satisfy a full frat house.

Afterward, we can all stumble down the sidewalk to our homes or pass out in the yard at a friend’s house, because driving is not an option, right?

Now I’m not going to harp on how terrible drunk driving is — I’m not doing a public service announcement here. Besides, we’ve all been told enough horror stories about driving under the influence and getting caught by the police or slamming into innocent pedestrians.

Obviously, we know how dangerous it is to get behind the wheel of a car after having a few drinks. In fact, I can barely find elbow room on a bus after a night out for that very reason. The only intoxicated people I notice those nights are falling over themselves at bus stops, staggering to another bar, or drunkenly holding onto one another as they make their way back home.

Imagine my surprise that first Saturday night I was sober and driving a vehicle. The view was dramatically different as I was suddenly bombarded by bad drivers. I’ll admit, at first I assumed a few people were simply inexperienced drivers. What else could explain cars driving too fast or slow, or switching lanes without a turn signal?

My naivety was compounded by the fact that I had never driven after having drank alcohol. Like most sober drivers, I quickly realized what was going on and adapted to the situation. There are only so many times a person can run a red light before you realize there’s something wrong.

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A version of this article appeared in the Sep 30 issue of the Collegiate Times.