State College and Penn State police want everyone to know the dangers of drinking and driving, so they took their message to the streets.
The mobile DUI Victim’s Memorial came to State College on Thursday morning, parking on College Avenue to serve as a stark visual reminder of the great cost the can come with impaired driving.
The memorial is a partnership between PennDOT and the Pennsylvania DUI Association – a trailer emblazoned with the words “never a day goes by that we do not remember.” Inside, the walls of the memorial are covered in the names of hundreds of Pennsylvanians who have lost their lives in tragic DUI-related accidents.
“It’s powerful reading those names,” says Penn State police chief Tyrone Parham. “This isn’t some slogan, those are real people whose deaths have impacted families and loved ones and friends.”
Parham, along with State College police chief Tom King, was outside the memorial on Thursday, braving some chilly weather to spread awareness to Penn State students and other passersby.
Parham says this memorial is especially important for Penn State students to see and reflect on. He says that the 18 to 22 age range sees many DUI-related deaths, and includes many of the students that he works to protect.
Parham also says the memorial is especially timely because of the coming weekend. Most of the events for the first-annual THAW Festival fall on this weekend, but so does the faux-holiday student drinking event State Patty’s Day.
“Anytime you have an event that’s bringing people into town, some people are going to make bad decisions that involve alcohol,” King says. “Centre County is a safe place to live, but one way that someone here is more likely to die from criminal activity is a crash that involved drunk driving.”
George Geisler of the Pennsylvania DUI Association was also at the memorial, helping debunk some common myths about alcohol.
Despite popular opinion, Geisler says that coffee, cold showers and exercise do not help sober up an intoxicated individual. He also says that eating greasy food or drinking milk does not coat the stomach or prevent the absorption of alcohol, as some people believe.
“And maybe the one that’s most important: people think they can’t get arrested if their blood alcohol content is below the 0.08 limit,” Geisler says. “But if an officer is able to prove you’ve had enough to drink that you aren’t safe to drive, then the BAC doesn’t matter.”
Geisler also says that drivers can get a DUI if they’re under they influence of any drug, not just alcohol. This includes prescription medications, over-the-counter medication, illegal drugs or “any substance, other than food, that affects how the body functions.”
Ariel Hendrick went to the memorial with her father Ryan Hendrick, a Ferguson Township police officer and coordinator for the Centre County Alcohol Task Force. As a future Penn State student and aspiring law enforcement professional, she was very struck by the memorial.
“It’s crazy to see all those names,” Ariel Hendrick says. “I don’t know how anyone could drink and drive after seeing that.”
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