Keeping students safe on campus is a leading priority to the University of Alabama. Unfortunately, with over 22,000 students in the undergraduate program alone it is near impossible to predict the safety precautions that all students will take while on campus. Regardless, the University of Alabama has gone to great lengths to provide safety to its students; especially during the evening when finding transportation and a means of getting around campus feasibly become more complicated. Many of the major concerns of late night transportation methods that students take involve alcohol, but even without alcohol involved getting around campus can be a hassle. The University of Alabama has created a service called “348-ride” as a solution to majority of transportation problems during the evening. Students should take 348-ride during the evening whenever possible in order to save money and remain safe from physical harm as well as from legal trouble.
Despite this great method, many students still refuse to use this system. Students are concerned that taking the 384-ride bus or van to a party could actually be very embarrassing. Because of this, students may decide to take a taxi, which is clearly a better choice than driving under the influence. However, taxis have a capacity of four people and the driver charges by the mile. 348-ride is free of charge and can hold a large group of people.
Another concern students have with taking 348-Ride is that if a person is publically intoxicated in the group of people within the van, the drivers will take them to the police station. However, this is a major misconception. It is not 348-ride’s responsibility to turn students in. There is a much greater chance of a student getting in legal trouble with the police if they are driving while under the influence, or even if someone should decide to walk around by themselves at unsafe hours in the night. If a student is walking home alone on campus at night, they are putting themselves at high risk of getting raped, mugged, or anything of that nature. The UA police are looking for this in order to keep students safe; however they are still required to enforce the law which means that they are more likely to stop a student if they are stumbling along the campus late at night and giving them a public intoxication charge before they target students who are being responsible enough to take 348-ride. And they are certainly more concerned with looking for drunk drivers.
Drunk driving is a major problem among most college campuses. Students in college have a wide range of freedom and many more opportunities to consume alcohol. Luckily, the city of Tuscaloosa does not have a major night scene besides what is located directly around campus. Due to the fact that most of the locations students want to go at night are within a 15-mile radius, students believe that there is very little danger in driving under the influence such short distances. Still, drinking and driving causes many accidents and is the number one killer among teenagers in America; and accidents will occur no matter how short the distance. 348-ride’s main focus is keeping students from drinking and driving. They have provided buses that go between locations on campus and neighborhoods surrounding it to transport students. The 348-Ride route goes all over campus including residence halls and also neighborhoods surrounding campus in the area inside the border made by Greensboro Avenue, 15th Street, Helen Keller Boulevard, and Jack Warner Parkway.
Despite some of the negative opinions of 348-ride, there are still many students who see the pros of this system. Many students say that they would rather take 348-Ride than to get pulled over after drinking. A freshman at the University, Allison Porter, exclaims that it is incredibly useful. “It is very helpful not having to decide who will drive. It’s great to not have to drive my own car and find a parking spot on a busy night, even when there is no alcohol involved!” Although students seem to find both good and bad things about 348-Ride, safety should always be the number one priority.
These reasons are enough to explain the benefits of taking 348-Ride, but to get it started some students should just step up. If not many people are doing it, no one wants to. If a few students take the smart option of 348-Ride, it will create a “domino effect” where more and more students will make the decision. If more students begin to take this free transportation then fewer students will begin to get embarrassed for taking it; consequently decreasing the number of drunk drivers and students hazardously wandering the campus on their own at night.
If we could get a majority of students living on campus to take 348-Ride it would help eliminate drunk driving and the results that come with it. Students should not drink and drive, but be safe and take the free transportation provided. 348-Ride offers many things to help out students in many different ways which will still allow them to have fun. Some students refuse it, but looking at all aspects it is very beneficial. By taking 348-Ride, students stay safe, pay nothing and also set examples for others to follow their lead in making good decisions.
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