1. Operating Under the Influence in Waterville
By: John Pappas
Colby College, Waterville, ME
What Is the Issue with Operating Under the Influence in Waterville?
Kennebec Valley, one of Maine’s most beautiful areas, is tied for second among the rest of Maine’s counties for alcohol-related fatalities. Furthermore, they are among the top of the list of operating under the influence (OUI).
Thomas College and Colby College of Waterville account for a small percentage of these traffic incidents. With 4,000 students between the two schools, the chance of alcohol-related accidents increases, especially in Waterville.
Although there are four available taxi companies: Elite, G’s, Joe’s, Pine Tree, none of them are reliable, especially at night or in wet conditions. There is also no Uber available in Waterville.
How can we Minimize OUI Rates in Waterville?
Talk to city council, push to set up more DUI checkpoints throughout the city.
Implement one taxi company that is reliable and able to drive at night, when OUIs are most common.
As shown in the graph, teen fatalities in Maine occur at all hours, but having a reliable taxi company or Uber, will definitely decrease this number, especially at night.
Create more jobs to reduce unemployment. If more people are working during the day, the OUI rate will most likely go down.
The heavily cracked roads in Waterville make traffic accidents more probable to happen, so the city should undergo construction to not only fix the roads, but create jobs for the unemployed. Although this would be expensive, it would lead to a better unemployment rate and less OUIs in Waterville.
Colby Perspective
An underage Colby student was in the back of a car returning to campus from a bar and was drinking, and the driver got pulled over by a Waterville police officer. The student recalls what happened:
“It smelled like booze in the car, so the officer asked the driver if he had been drinking. He said “no sir” and that was that. No questions to any of us in the back.”
Whether the driver was drinking or not, the police officer did not bother asking the people in the back if they were drinking. If the driver had been drinking and the police officer let it slide, that is a red flag. If people can get away with operating under the influence in Waterville and get away with it, OUIs will keep happening.
Crime and Unemployment Yield More OUIs?
Waterville’s city violent crime rate was higher than the violent crime rate in Maine by %. Also, the city property crime rate in Waterville was 93.27% higher than the property crime rate in Maine.
The unemployment rate in Waterville is 6.8% (February 2015) compared to Maine’s unemployment rate of 6.0% and the national rate of 5.4%.
Copyright Colin Purrington (
Research and Acknowledgements
State of Maine Department of Public Safety
Maine Bureau of Highway Safety
Thank you to my friend who shared what happened with the officer