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A fourth-year male student at the University of Maine was celebrating his 22nd birthday when he was pulled over by a police officer. He had consumed six beers and was driving home, but he claimed he was not drunk.
Two blood alcohol tests that night told a different tale. On the first test, his breath showed that his blood alcohol content (or BAC) was 0.15. On the second test, it was 0.16, or twice the legal limit.
Because of the choice he made that night, the student’s life is very different. He said that it is much worse.
“Would I drunk drive again?” he said. “Let me put it this way. If I was driving drunk and I saw cops behind me, I’d drive off the road and kill myself.”
After the student was convicted of operating under the influence of alcohol in October 2002, he was sentenced to 48 hours in jail, the mandatory minimum sentence for his conviction. He also was fined $400, not including towing fees for his vehicle.
Because he was speeding, had such a high BAC and a passenger under 21 in his car while he was driving drunk, he was convicted of aggravated OUI and was sentenced to spend a weekend in jail. He served his sentence last December. He described his stay at Penobscot County Jail as “purgatory.”
“I just sat there and stared at walls,” he said. “It’s eternal waiting.”
Jail time was only the beginning of his troubles. Because of his aggravated OUI conviction, the judge did not suspend the student’s license for the usual minimum of 90 days. His license was suspended for a year.
When asked about how he gets transportation, he replies only half-jokingly, “God gave me two thumbs and a pair of legs.”
While he has hitchhiked a few times, the student mostly has to be taken to his classes by his roommate and friends.
“I hate having to call people up and get them to give me a ride,” he said. “I miss classes all the time because I can’t get rides.”
The student said that he has no social life now, because he cannot drive anywhere. He spends most of his nights alone.
“Yeah, I sit here all the time,” he said quietly.
Those convicted of OUI can receive a conditional driver’s license that allows them to drive only to and from work. However, insurance rates also rise dramatically for those with OUIs. The student estimated his insurance would be three times as expensive as it was before his conviction.
“If I got a work permit, I couldn’t work enough hours to pay for insurance,” he said.
A second-year male student at Eastern Maine Technical College was pulled over by a police officer after driving erratically on a snowy morning in February 2003.
The student, 19, had been driving home after a night of drinking, which was a common occurrence. After failing a field sobriety test, the officer determined that the student was driving while under the influence of alcohol. His BAC was 0.14.
Like the UMaine student, the EMTC student was used to living an independent life. He drove his own car to work, school and friends’ houses. However, he won’t be living that life again for at least another six months.
The state of Maine has a “Zero Tolerance” law. That is, if someone under the age of 21 is found operating a vehicle with any trace of alcohol in his blood, his license will be revoked for a minimum of one year.
Since the student completed an alcohol awareness program as part of a plea bargain, his license was suspended for only six months. However, he will be paying the price of his conviction for another seven years, even after he gets his license back.
“It’s a provisional license, it’s conditional,” he explained. “I have to have zero tolerance, even when I turn 21, for seven years.”
Until the student turns 27, if he is pulled over and has any trace of alcohol in his blood, it will be treated by a judge the same as a second OUI. A second OUI conviction comes with a minimum 18-month license suspension, a seven-day jail sentence and a $500 fine.
The student also was given a $400 fine and sentenced to perform 48 hours of community service, instead of spending two days in jail.
Adding insult to injury, the Feb. 2 edition of the Bangor Daily News ran the student’s police beat entry with the large headline, “Underage driver denies drinking, flunks sobriety test.”
The article described how the officer asked the student how drunk he was, on a scale of one to 10. He was quoted as replying that he was a “10,” but then said, “Wait a minute, did you say 10 was sober?”
The student said the article embarrassed and angered him, and it made him seem more drunk than he actually was.
“I was outraged by the fact that there’s been so many other worse crimes out there, and I got a headline,” he said.
His life has been very different since his conviction. Even though he was able to keep his job at a local electronics store, his employers have told him that he will not have a job if he can’t get to work.
“I get transportation through my parents and co-workers,” he said. “I’m mooching my way through life.”
He plans on applying for a work license, but expects to move out of his apartment and back in with his parents since his insurance will be so high. That will be difficult, since the student explained that his family and friends look at him differently now.
“I got made fun of in a room full of people at Pat’s Pizza,” he said.
He described how an acquaintance of his yelled, “Look who got an OUI!” Other diners began to stare at him while his friends made fun of him.
When asked if he would drive drunk again, the student responded solemnly, “No. No, I won’t.”
The number of college students drinking and driving has UMaine Public Safety officer Lt. Alan Stormann concerned.
“If you’ve got one it’s a problem,” Stormann said.
So far this semester, there have been nine OUI convictions on campus, Stormann said. In addition, there have been three zero-tolerance convictions, or people under the age of 21 driving with any alcohol in their blood.
Last semester, there were eight OUI and six-zero tolerance convictions. In the spring semester of 2002, there were 22 OUI and five zero-tolerance convictions on campus.
Stormann said that there is no reason for someone to drive drunk. He said that if students have been drinking, they can hitch a ride on the Late Night Local, a van which is commonly known to students as the “Drunk Bus.”
He also said that there are numerous alcohol awareness programs available to students, which show students the consequences of driving drunk.
The UMaine and EMTC students now know these consequences.
“It’s a tough thing to get over,” Stormann said. “There’s nothing positive coming out of an OUI arrest, except for the possibility it will never happen again.”
Editor’s note: The two students interviewed for this story spoke with The Maine Campus on condition of anonymity. Their names were withheld.
Bangor Daily News