Exhibit at TC3 showcases effects of driving while under the influence

Spring nears, and all around us is evidence of new life, soon to bloom. The soil softens with rain and warmth, daylight hours lengthen, and we look for signs of new growth. Why dampen such a time with sober realities? Why make the month of April Alcohol Awareness Month? Although we would like to think we’ve made great progress in reducing the senseless loss of life so sadly associated with the youth rituals of spring – proms, graduation, parties – it’s never enough. Alcohol-related crashes happen every day, in every season.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that impaired drivers kill someone every 30 minutes, which equates to 50 people per day, or 18,000 every year. In the U.S., every two minutes a person is injured in an alcohol-related crash. This makes drinking and driving the most frequent violent crime in our nation.

Tragically, college students between the ages of 18 and 24 are a large part of the statistics. A national survey of 2.1 million college-aged students admitted driving under the influence of alcohol in the past year (Hingson, Ralph et al. 2002). Locally, we know this dangerous practice plays out every week on our roads, as students head out to bars, clubs, parties and restaurants. In 2008, there were 417 DWI arrests in Tompkins County and 101 in Cortland County. It is frightening to think how many more impaired drivers are out there on the roads, if this is the tip of the iceberg.

What more can be done to keep ourselves and our children safe? How can we continue to help our young adults make safe decisions involving alcohol, despite the developmental norm of invincibility? We must use every opportunity we can as a teaching moment.

Tompkins Cortland Community College is excited to announce during the month of April the college will host a national traveling exhibit called “Friends,” which highlights the unintended consequences of drinking and driving. The exhibit is free and open to the whole community. It chronicles the lives of seven upstate New York college students – bright, talented and full of promise — who were involved in a fatal drunk driving crash of November 2000 near Colgate University. The main purpose of the exhibit is to make high school and college-aged students aware of how quickly the lives of those involved in DWI crashes can change. The exhibit includes photos, possessions, interviews of victim’s friends and families, and audio and visual recordings. The exhibit is a powerful teaching and preventive tool for youth. No reservations are necessary.

The exhibit hours are 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.,Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Sunday.

Visitors are instructed to park in TC3 Lot #1 and enter through the college’s main entrance. The exhibit will be staged in room 121. For a guided tour of the college or more information, call 607.844.8222, Ext. 4261.

Recent host sites have included Hamilton College, Hobart and William Smith College, Hartwick College, Fordham, Syracuse University, SUNY Albany, and Colgate University.

This is a perfect opportunity for class trips, group projects and family outings. Bring your loved ones and tell your friends. Help us save lives and preserve families.

To see a brochure describing the exhibit, go to the CACTC Website at www.cortlandareactc.org and click on the scrolling banner on the home page.

Becky Clark, CSW works in the Counseling, Career and Transfer Services at TC3. TC3 is a member of Cortland Area Communities That Care Coalition. The Coalition is supporting the Friends Exhibit at TC3.