Illustration by Kurt Strazdins and Kurt Strazdins (MCT)

Feb. 4, 2007 started as a friend’s birthday celebration for Sobuon Leng.

It ended with Leng getting hit by a drunk driver in her car.

Leng, 21, a double major in anthropology and sociology at Cal State Fullerton, pulled up to a four-way stop sign after dropping her friend off at home at around 10 p.m.

Her car was suddenly hit on the driver’s side by a man who had been drinking and driving.

Leng’s Honda Accord was hit after going no more than a couple inches from the stop.

The crash was caused by the man’s Yukon SUV.

“The guy got out of his car yelling at me for my information because I had hit his car. He was irate,” Leng said.

When police arrived at the scene, the man was arrested for drinking and driving and driving on a suspended license for a prior DUI charge.

Although Leng’s car was totalled, she suffered no serious injuries except back pain that began a couple weeks after the accident.

Much like Leng, Penny Weifmuller, an assistant professor in nursing at CSUF, was also a victim of a drunk driving crash.

While on her way to visit her father in Oregon for his 98th birthday on Oct. 28, 2006, Weifmuller, her brother and sister-in-law were rear-ended by a drunk driver going 100 mph on the freeway at 3:30 a.m.

Their car spun and rolled several times, landing upside down on the freeway while the drunk driver drove away.

“I didn’t even know I was upside down until I tried reaching for my car handle,” Weifmuller said. “But when I couldn’t reach it, I went to undo my seat belt, and I hit the roof of the car.”

Her sister-in-law, who was the only one able to climb through her window, phoned firefighters and paramedics.

A semi-truck driver and another vehicle stopped to help and both phoned the police.

The truck driver radioed other semis that were traveling ahead, which allowed them to make a block across the freeway to stop the 21-year-old man who hit Weifmuller and her family.

“For the first year after the accident, if I was riding in the passenger seat, I would become what some people call a ‘Nervous Nellie,’” Weifmuller said. “My husband would get mad at me because I was just so nervous.”

Weifmuller and her family were not as lucky as Leng when it came to escaping injuries.

Her sister-in-law’s scalp had to be re-attached at the hospital as it came off in the crash.

Weifmuller’s brother had suffered injury to his abdomen, and Weifmuller had to endure shoulder, back, hip and knee surgery over an extended period of time.

Much like Leng’s driver, the man who had rear-ended Weifmuller’s vehicle was a multiple DUI offender driving on a suspended license.

“I really don’t like drinking, and I think people should be responsible,” Weifmuller said. “Maybe you don’t care for yourself, but you can cause such harm to others.”

Lori Phelps, who is involved with the Substance Abuse Awareness and Prevention Student Association and is a full-time lecturer in the human services department on campus, doesn’t take a stance against drinking, but enforces moderation.

“It’s a rite of passage,” Phelps said. “Instead of a zero tolerance when it comes to alcohol, I would like to see other options. We’ve made drinking taboo, so instead of kids just trying it they overdo it.”

Phelps said she doesn’t see moderation being taught.

“It’s clearly heartbreaking when an accident happens, but it seems some programs are not effective,” Phelps said.

When people are sent to alcohol programs, the standard of instructors and information that is being taught is up to par, Phelps said.

“When people get a DUI, no one is going to expect them to stop drinking,” Phelps said.

Leng said she is thankful she wasn’t seriously injured and adds that drinking and driving isn’t worth the dangers that can be caused.

“My only thing is you really need to take a step back and think about drinking and driving. You’re either going to be arrested for it or become a victim of it,” Leng said.