A senior chemistry major at North Carolina State was critically injured yesterday morning when another student hit his bike while allegedly driving drunk on campus. Authorities say that the impact of the car was violent and that the biking student was thrown onto the car’s windshield. The impact of the biker’s body smashed the windshield of the car where he landed. The biker was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
Authorities say that the student driving the car is a junior civil engineering major. The driver was allegedly intoxicated at the time of the pedestrian accident which occurred when the driver apparently cut the biker off while turning into a service road that leads to the Dan Allen Parking Deck. The driver reportedly had a blood alcohol level of 0.12 percent, which is above North Carolina’s limit of 0.08 percent.
A search warrant was issued to draw blood from the driver. The blood sample will allow authorities to get an exact read on the amount of alcohol and other substances in the driver’s system.
This is just one of many drunk driving accidents that happen around local schools every year. Many students feel that they are being responsible by walking or biking to a party or other social event, but unfortunately these students often become the victims of biking and pedestrian accidents. The national rate of pedestrian accidents recently increased according to the NHTSA. Approximately 70,000 people suffer injuries in pedestrian and biking accidents such as this one every year.
Source: News Observer, “N.C. State student critically injured in collision,” Feb. 20, 2012