By Jeremiah Magan

Daily Titan Opinion Editor

There are not many things that a diverse group, such as college students, has in common outside of school but drunken antics are a staple of college life.

Who hasn’t been to a party and watched someone have way too much to drink and do something incredibly stupid?

I, for one, have punched a paper towel dispenser off the wall of a restroom bar while inebriated because I could not pull out the last shred of paper towel.

I walked out of the bathroom and didn’t notice the blood running down my hand until I felt it drip on my toes.

I have also done the standard drunk moves. I’ve danced inappropriately, sung loudly in a bar, yelled at people I didn’t know because I thought it would be funny and gotten into fights.

I once set an entire dried out Christmas tree on fire in the backyard of my friend’s Burbank home while celebrating the New Year.

My friends and I then blew fireballs at the tree using Everclear and a Zippo.

My friend’s girlfriend didn’t talk to any of us until her eyebrows grew back.

These are forgivable acts. While the owner of the bar would not appreciate the fact that I destroyed one of his bathroom fixtures, I didn’t hurt anyone but myself.

However, there are things people do while they are drunk that cannot be forgiven as easily.

Drunk driving is one of those things.

The reason for bringing up this topic is pretty obvious. As reported in the Daily Titan on Tuesday, a Cal State Fullerton student was involved in a head-on collision that resulted in the deaths of two people and left the others badly injured.

The results of her blood test which will determine whether she was driving under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident have not been made public, and it is wrong to assume that she was drunk as she traveled west on the eastbound side of the freeway.

There are thousands of other cases that I can use to make a point that should not have to be made; this one just hits closer to home.

There are probably very few people in Orange County who do not remember the incident last semester when a drunk driver killed Nick Adenhart and Courtney Stewart.

The story moved the campus and community at large and should have been a wake up call to anyone who ever considered driving home while under the influence.

The unfortunate truth is that no matter how many people are killed in alcohol-related accidents, famous or not, people will still hop in their cars and drive home after having too much to drink.

People don’t learn, but maybe someday they will.

It’s unfortunate that only for some it requires a cold, hard slap in the face from reality to learn an important lesson.