It's 3 a.m. and you've had one too many. Your cigarette break at The Steer felt like entering into the Arctic without a furry Eskimo coat. Shuttles from South Campus to North have long stopped running, and none of your companions have the pocket change left to invest in a $20 cab ride. You look down at your car keys and consider your options.
While there is no excuse for driving after a night of partying, many aren't left with other options. Heads spinning and eyes blurry, they realize that they don't have the resources to find alternate means of transportation, and choose to embark on a dangerous journey: the drunken drive home.
With a recent surge of DWI and DUI arrests on and surrounding both campuses, students need to be more careful about choosing the journey home. UB as well as the City of Buffalo do little to discourage driving under the influence; rather, they leave students with no other option and are quick to heavily reprimand offenders after the fact.
Two hotspots for drinking, downtown Buffalo, and the University Heights district, have very few resources to ensure the safe arrival home for bar and club patrons.
The infamous Buffalo Metro System ends its runs between midnight and 12:30 a.m. each night.
An otherwise viable option for students from the entire Buffalo community, the city almost does a disservice to UB students, as well as community members from other colleges. With stops on South Campus, Delevan Avenue near Canisius Center, and areas surrounding the Buffalo State area, the Buffalo metro system would be an efficient and inexpensive way for patrons of downtown Buffalo to get home safely.
Instead, the rails shut down just as the party is getting started for many Buffalonians.
The City of Buffalo also doesn't take part in a program that other local governments participate in nationwide: a taxicab subsidizing program. In a number of other cities, especially college towns, local governments participate in a program reducing taxicab fare for those under the influence. Patrons are able to take taxis home at very low rates between certain hours to reduce incidences of drunk driving. Likewise, in other areas, colleges and universities provide free or low cost cab rides for students.
For a university so large, hundreds are left without a shuttle, subway, bus or other way of getting in between campuses and home from surrounding areas each weekend.
Without financial support, college students can expect to pay anywhere from $15 to $50 to get home safely from the popular Buffalo haunts. No college student in the world has that kind of cash to throw around every Thursday night for transportation.
UB does an equally disappointing job in helping students avoid driving while intoxicated. With intercampus shuttles not running past 2 a.m., many patrons of Main Street bars, as well as partygoers in the University Heights area, are left to find alternate ways to get home.
After a couple drinks, driving isn't an issue for the lucky South Campus residents, who can stumble home and climb into bed safely without having to find transportation. Transportation issues leave North Campus residents, in particular, at a disadvantage, as well as any student who chooses to patronize businesses in Buffalo outside of UB's vicinity, who most commonly resort to other tactics in getting home safe.
All night subway rides and shuttles from North to South Campus could greatly reduce the potential for drunk driving to even be a consideration. Instead, the university as well as the City of Buffalo chose to turn a blind eye to the drinking habits of community members and students in an effort to reduce other problems like underage and binge drinking. With an estimated 2.1 million students between the ages of 18 and 24 driving under the influence last year, preventative action needs to be taken rather than to refuse recognition to a popular amusement choice of many college students.
Drunk driving being the obvious, university students participate in a variety of other pastimes to try to arrive home safely. Still, when you're stranded in the middle of the night and its 9 degrees outside, risking getting behind the wheel is seen in a whole new light.
Snorting blow to sober up after a night of heavy drinking is an increasingly rampant choice. Chugging water, shoveling in food, and romping around in the snow also give some an increased confidence in their ability to chauffeur even more intoxicated comrades to safety. Most adults know that these choices aren't ways to sober up, but rather to become mildly alert while still heavily intoxicated- they choose one of these options anyway.
No quick fix for sobriety and a pretty firm 4 a.m. last call leads many to wonder what to do. The lucky find a safe way home- a sober friend, enough cash to pay insanely expensive cabs, or take the long hike back to North Campus.
Those left with no other choice often meet one of two fates: wrapping their cars around a tree, or being swiftly pulled over by the University of Buffalo police, quick to pat themselves on the back for catching such a criminal.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
