by Emily Mosier
When Troy University Student Makaylia Woods was in elementary school, she didn’t understand alcoholism. She believed her dad was being funny by pretending to swerve on the road and driving “really, really fast.”
“My dad was a bad alcoholic,” Woods said. “He would pick us up from school, and he would hug me, ask me how my day was, kiss me. I could smell the alcohol on him. I have this ingrained sense of what alcohol smells like, and it doesn't go away.”
Woods, a junior psychology major from Pine Hill, Alabama, participated in an anti-drinking-and-driving event on the main quad shortly before spring break began. And as she watched her friends drive golf carts while wearing goggles that compromised their vision, she said she was reminded of her own experiences with drunk driving.
The intoxication simulation was sponsored by Troy University Police Department and Trojan Outreach, a student organization that promotes wellness and health.
Students could choose between goggles that represented different levels of alcohol content and different substances, including marijuana. They then drove through an obstacle course on a golf cart. Officers in attendance also gave sobriety field tests to students, and many struggled to even walk a straight line.
“One girl got turned around and almost hit somebody, and she got so scared,” said Trojan Outreach educator Emily Hyman, a freshman biomedical sciences major from Saraland, Alabama. “Hopefully, the lessons will carry on throughout these students’ whole lives.”
Jake Sleasman, who works as a TUPD officer but is also a sophomore computer science major from Troy, said driving under the influence comes with severe consequences.
Sleasman said one of his family members once ended up paying more than $6,000 in fines after getting a DUI.
“It cripples somebody who works a regular nine-to-five,” Sleasman said. “Drinking under the influence is something you should avoid because it can tear your family apart.”
Depending on the severity and the number of offenses, DUIs can lead to a misdemeanor or felony charge. They can also result in fines, jail time, and license suspension.
The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports one person is killed every 45 minutes due to a car crash involving a driver impaired by alcohol, and adults between the ages of 21 and 24 are the most likely to drive under the influence. A 2021 study by The National Library of Medicine found there is a connection between alcohol abuse in college and peer relationships – or the lack of relationships.
Ashanti Gray, a sophomore elementary education major from Hopeville, Alabama, says she has personally seen her friends succumb to the social pressure to drink.
“She would usually never drink,” Gray said, referring to a friend who she said was typically against drinking. “But basically, this guy liked her, and she definitely wanted to impress him.
“I talked to her afterwards, and she didn’t really know why she had done it.”
Woods said she was glad to see an event to raise awareness on the dangers of driving under the influence, and she hopes the future generation might be spared the trials she herself went through.
“Young people have this mindset where they think they can handle anything,” Woods said. “But you’re not in charge of just yourself in that vehicle. You have to have in mind everybody else in the car, the people on the road, and your family.”
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