Phi Sigma Pi hosts Think Before You Drink
Sniffles echoed around the Charles V. Park Library auditorium as Alma resident Victoria Hammond told the story of her personal experience in a drunk driving crash.
Hammond lost her son in a drunk driving crash just three weeks before his third birthday.
“None of it is intentional, but lack of intention changes nothing," Hammond said. "He will never get to ride his bike, tie his own shoes or learn how to drive. His place in our lives and hearts will never be filled."
Hammond was speaking during a segment of Think before You Drink, a presentation on the dangers of drunk, impaired and distracted driving presented by Phi Sigma Pi. About 100 people attended the event.
The event started with a YouTube video titled “Happy Hour Fail.” Two EMT workers from Central Michigan Community Hospital then talked about what typically happens when they arrive at a scene where someone has had too much to drink.
Sterling Heights senior and President of Phi Sigma Pi Alyssa Chrisman said part of her job is to put on an event every semester for risk management. In the past, the event was titled Sober in October, but because people misinterpreted the title as an anti-drinking event, the name was changed to Think Before You Drink.
“I was hoping people would realize that drunk driving is prevalent," Chrisman said. "A lot of people think tragedies cannot happen to them, so this opened peoples eyes to see that this can happen to anyone."
At the end of the presentation, Chrisman asked audience members to look under their chairs for a coffee lid. Three members of the audience had coffee lids under their seats and Chrisman said that in the population of people in the audience, three people would have died in a drunk driving crash during the duration of the presentation.
“I learned that it would be much easier to take a cab or find a ride home," said Rochester junior Allison Walsh. "What really stuck out was when she (Hammond) said it would be better to lose a friend for a while (for taking their keys) than lose a friend for life"
