University Police announced during the first week of school that it would conduct DUI checkpoints from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. Since then, UP has placed signs on Maple and Holly drives alerting drivers to DUI checkpoints in an effort to deter drunk driving.

Over the weekend, at least two DUI arrests were made by UP.

There is no need for USF students, or anyone for that matter, to drive drunk.

Beyond campus, there have been two vehicular manslaughter arrests in the Tampa Bay area since Wednesday because of drunk driving.

On Wednesday, a woman on the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway drove over traffic cones onto a ramp, driving against traffic before colliding with a Pontiac and killing the driver. Her blood alcohol level was .244. She was arrested Saturday.

A man was arrested Sunday for running a red light, which caused a three-vehicle crash that killed a crossing guard and injured five. His blood alcohol level was .121. In the case of this driver, he had two previous DUI arrests, no driver’s license and no insurance, according to the Lakeland Ledger.

And around 2 a.m. Sunday, UP made a DUI arrest.

In the meantime, the question remains: When will it stop? The answer should be “Now.”

Pepin Distributing Company and United Cab Company work together to provide Alert Cab, a program that offers free rides to people in Hillsborough County who are too inebriated to drive.

SAFE team will contact Alert Cab for students who have their keys, student ID and a destination address. Yet not enough students take advantage of this free service.

Drivers who get behind the wheel drunk endanger everyone who comes in their path and many get away with minor scratches in comparison with the dead.

Before getting behind the wheel while intoxicated, think about the child left without a mother Wednesday because someone decided to drink and drive.

Before pressuring a friend to drink knowing that he or she has to drive home, think of the crossing guard that left home and said goodbye to his wife, thinking that he’d return home at the end of the day.

Simply put, there is no excuse to drive drunk.

In college, we are all adults. Despite being students, we are expected to behave responsibly. Getting arrested at 2 a.m. Sunday  because you were driving drunk isn’t responsible at all, especially when the situation could’ve beeen avoided by placing a phone call.