Kirksville woman fights drunk driving

Kirksville resident Stephanie Davis was tired of hearing about drunk driving accidents and people receiving tickets for driving while drunk. When a classmate was killed in a drunk driving accident after receiving several DWIs, she decided to do something about it.    

At the end of March, Davis started her sober driving business.  She earned her commercial driving license, as well as insurance and business licenses. She offers rides for up to four people until 4 a.m. for $5 per carload, to and from their destination. She currently is the sole proprietor, but said she is looking for more people to join the business.  

"I'm not in this to make money, I'm in this to help," she said. "I have ideas to expand once I make a name for myself in this town, but right now this is just a starter."

Davis said so far she has had a mixture of Truman students and Kirksville residents call her for rides, most of them hearing about the service through friends or Facebook. She has given her business cards to local bar owners and said she thinks business will grow as more people find out about it.

"[It's] a lot cheaper than getting into your car, getting pulled over and paying thousands of dollars in fines," she said.

Adair County Sheriff Bob Hardwick said drinking and driving happens "quite frequently" in Adair.  In 2009, more than 230 alcohol-related crashes resulted in 265 deaths and more than 4,358 injuries in Missouri alone, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

"Just don't drink and drive," Hardwick said. "It's that simple. The repercussions are so severe and if you get in an accident and hurt or kill someone, it's very devastating."

Student Senate tried to create a sober rides program, but nothing came of it, said JoEllen Flanagan former president of the student association.  In spring 2008, Senate created a sub-committee dedicated to researching the project, and the next year the task was given to the Student Affairs Committee,  where    it     fizzled,

Flanagan said.  Senate was too focused on the proposed smoking ban, so the proposed safe rides program didn't receive enough attention, she said.

The project faced several obstacles, including finding and affording insurance for the vehicles and having a faculty or administration member who would be able to oversee the program.

"When we did do research at other institutions with the safe ride program, the main thing that worked was that their school police had an agreement with students," Flanagan said. "They thought it was more important to get students home safely than to give them an MIP and at Truman we have yet to find that. That sort of agreement with the administration and DPS is not there."

If Truman creates a safe rides program, Davis said she would be more than willing to work with students and the University.

(Additional reporting by Nathan Vickers.)