STUDENTS ARE DYING: COLLEGES CAN DO MORE

Unfortunately, I am an expert on drinking and driving bike. As a master degree's student in Kathmandu, I suffered through the death of a bosom classmate on my football team who was killed in an alcohol-related crash. A couple of months later I paid last respects to another classmate who died while driving under the influence. Few months after that a football teammate returning to Koteshwor from KMC totaled his well-motorized pulsor bike in a drunk-driving accident, partially paralyzing himself and causing permanent brain damage. His father, a businessman responding to a 100 call, was the one to trace him on the roadside near death.
After all that, I cogitated I knew the worst about drunk driving. I was wrong. Two years ago my brother-in-law, a college student senior, drove 90-130 miles an hour on a rainy rural road into a tree, ending his life. His blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit. Witnesses later recounted that he was swerving and speeding on a nearby road.

What should we do about the drinking culture of the world? I know that my brother-in-law and classmates were ultimately responsible for their own death, but in my view, college administrators can work harder to keep kids like my classmates and brother-in-law from getting behind the wheel. But many schools and colleges have been reluctant to address the problems. Why? Perhaps because taking up responsibility for drinking and driving will make trustees and college principals legally liable for college students' drunk-driving behaviour.
If they accepted this responsibility, they might ask themselves the following questions: Should we expel students who usually drink? Has the principal of our college thought of campaigning for "bike-free zone"?Have we contacted different traffic police offices to help us implement alcohol -and-driving education programs?
Why does the problem of drunk driving persist? It's not easy to solve. College students are young and irresponsible, and drinking is part of the modern culture. Administrators of colleges have not wanted to abolish the trend of riding bike before they reach maturity fearing that bike-free campaign would affect the enrollment of students. As per the a recent researched released in October, the year 2011 recorded the highest number of road accidents. In respect to this problem, a well-known GCE-A level college, Chelsea Int'l Academy has been campaigning for "Bike-free zone" denying the decrease in the enrollment. This is an example of praiseworthy step. This is why, I urge all the college administrators to help minimize such life-taking disasters instead of continuing the annual practice of authoring one of your student's eulogies.

Submitted by
Amar Limbu
Profession-teaching
Address-amarsherma@gmail.com
Cell-9803685286