Posted on 08/24/2004 7:41:27 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Texans can claim yet another dubious first: we drink and drive more than any other citizens in the country.
By extension, we also kill and injure more people doing so.
So says law enforcement officials as they roll out their annual Labor Day weekend drunken driving crackdown, which will involve more than 60,000 additional officers on the road, the money to pay their overtime, and an intense media campaign to discourage drinkers from getting behind the wheel.
"Drink, Drive, Go to Jail," is part of a nationwide campaign to lower the number of drunken-driving fatalities and injuries that occur during this holiday weekend.
One Texan is killed or injured in an alcohol-related crash every 21 minutes, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety, and more than 1,000 die every year.
This holiday weekend, it's estimated that 545 people will die across the country from drunken-driving fatalities, said Michelle Price, executive director of the South Texas Injury Prevention and Research Center. That would be like a jumbo jet full of passengers crashing with no survivors.
From Aug. 27 through Sept. 12, DPS and police officers will be out in force, focused specifically on drunken drivers. Texas was one of 14 states that received extra funding because of the state's high numbers.
Texas has such a high number of drunken scofflaws in part because there are simply more people driving more miles than almost any other state.
But even California, where drivers log even more miles, has a lower rate of drunken drivers and deaths.
California began years ago cracking down on drunken drivers and found that hitting motorists in their pocketbooks helped. Texas seems to be following suit, cranking up fines.
A DWI conviction in Bexar County costs between $3,000 and $15,000, said DPS Trooper Travis Hall, and with the new point/surcharge system that went into effect in September 2003, that cost could go up another couple grand, depending on the conviction.
Texans also need to pay attention to the values that allow drinking and driving to happen, Price said.
"We drive too fast," she said, noting that speed combined with alcohol makes for a particularly deadly combination. "And we don't like giving up our liberties here in Texas. Ultimately, too many people just think they can get away with it."
Not if law enforcement has their way, though, especially over the Labor Day weekend.
"If we catch you," said Hall, "I guarantee, you're go to jail."
Drinking and driving is a personal choice, he reminds, and prevention — of going to jail, of killing someone, of dying — is truly simple.
"If you're going to drink," he said. "Just don't drive."
------------------thamilton@express-news.net
Gee, how did you guess? ;-)
A&M and t.u. have never played in Dallas. They played in Houston from 1908-1911 (unclear about 1909) and have played an alternating home and home since 1915. They didn't play from 1912 until 1914, the only break in the series since 1902.
I was a law school 1L when I first signed up with FR in early 1998.
Ahhh, the Death Loop. LOL. I think the name still applies, AFAIK. Completion only made it accessible to more vehicles.
Are you sure you are not thinking of Texas/OU game?
That is the one played in Dallas. UT/TAMU play in Austin and College Station.
The Texas/OU matchup is scary. I remember the news stories you may be mentioning.
West End (in dallas) was a mess. Several years saw windows getting broken and fights in the streets.
One year a guy drove his car through a window of a store.
THAT'S the one! It has been some time ago. I do remember seeing video feeds on the local news showing the "tribute to Bacchus" the resulted.
PITTSBURGH - How much would you pay for a bottle of beer that stays cold nearly an hour longer? Pittsburgh Brewing Co., maker of Iron City Beer, is asking an additional $1 per case.
The brewery has partnered with Alcoa Inc., the world's largest aluminum maker, to produce aluminum bottles that keep beer colder for as much as 50 minutes longer than a glass bottle, Alcoa officials said.
About 20,000 cases of the new aluminum bottle beer are en route to as many as 28 states and should be on shelves this week, Alcoa and Pittsburgh Brewing said Tuesday.
I visited my old hometown in 2001 and it was very much the same as it was when i left for university: most of the roads under construction and no one really sure where the detours went.
Downtown Dallas on t.u./OU Friday nights isn't that bad any more. It peaked in the late '70s/early '80s. Since then, there hasn't been much damage or trouble (it has occurred, just not to the extent as in the past).
Most of the trouble now is public intoxication.
"How could anyone be so unkind,
To arrest a man for driving while blind."
ZZTOP
AAAAAUUUUUUGGGGHH!
Sorry, but you mentioned 1604. Sometimes..35 coming north out of SA...is worse. It got to the point where I would just take 46 west out of New Braunfels...and then take 281 into SA. I had to drive to Lackland from Bullis one day and I though I was gonna die when some girl in a jeep lost control on 410.
It was a fun summer. I had a part time job at Schlitterbahn. The first couple of weeks and the last couple of weeks were nothing but sority girls showing up at the park.
When the guy drove that car through that store window in the mid to late 90s....the REALLY clampled down on it.
It is a lot better now.
Public Intoxication at shorthorn/OU weekend....naw.
break 'em off
I remember being in class and a prof read the stat about most alcohol consumed per capita being in College Station (to be fair...other studies show that it is other places...which means each study is some guy with a beef about a school).
When he finished reading it he looks at us and goes...
"the person who wrote this has never been to WESTFEST".
Referring to the festival held in West, Tx just north of Waco each labor day weekend.
I have many friends from West. Beer is their national past time.
Aw Jeez. I was born in Bryan. I drink beer. Is it a sign? What now?
Then you have to wait and wait before you can drink....and that would just harm our title defense for DWI King.
"Hank, why ainchuh drinkin"
"I can't find that goshdarn tab to pull"
I used to like driving my corvettes. That way I could haul ass withoug having to make two trips.
naw, that is why you have multiple stills and brewing vessels - each one at a different step in the fermentation process so that you always have the Water of Life available to imbibe.
This thread reminds me of an article that P. J. O'Rourke wrote for Car and Driver magazine. In this article he described how one could drive a truck along country roads while being sozzled.
I don't remember that, but I'm not surprised. I think arrests totalled in the hundreds in the time period I mentioned.
You have to understand: only when you are intoxicated does burnt orange seem reasonable as a school color.
West is Czech country. I believe that speaks for itself.
Washington County used to have quite the reputation but the smaller population just can't rack up the numbers in sheer volume.
We get recognition on the "per capita" scale.
Hooray, not that I don't help to pad the stats every now and then.
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