For many, Spring Break is a time to get away with friends.
It is a time to soak up the Panama City sun or swim in the clear blue water on Cancun beaches. Between chugs of beer, shots of tequila and games of Edward Forty-Hands, thoughts of accidents and fatalities are far away.
While college students visit a variety of locations during their week-long vacation, the majority visit Florida, Texas, and Mexico. According to the Infographics Showcase, each year 500,000 students visit Panama City, 150,000 visit South Padre Island, and 100,000 visit Cancun.
“I think that over spring break, especially in destination spots like Florida or Havasu, drinking can’t really be toned down. It’s the norm in places like that and kids who choose to go to those spots have one thing in mind and that’s to get drunk,” UW student Chloe Storaci said after her Spring Break in Palm Springs, Calif.
In the same Infographics Showcase study, 60 percent of college students surveyed reported getting injured during their break. A small number of these students experience accidents resulting in death.
This year was no exception. While on spring break in Cabo San Lucas last week, Mexico, a University of Southern California student, 22-year-old Samuel Levine, died in a fall. Mexican authorities say Levine was trying to climb onto an air conditioning unit to get into a hotel room.
The unit could not support his weight and Levine fell down six stories. Mexican police said he died of severe head trauma. Levine did have alcohol in his system before the deadly fall, according to the investigator’s release.
Ohio State University also experienced fatalities last week when two female students died in a car crash on their way back from vacationing in Florida. Police said 21-year-old Courtney Miller of Niles, Ohio, was driving the car when it collided with a pickup truck.
Brittney Gallagher of Willoughby, Ohio, also died in the crash. Gallagher and Miller were both pronounced dead at the scene.
A student from Lansing Community College in Lansing, Mich. also had a fatal experience with alcohol. On March 6, Kyle Lamb, 20, died in Panama City Beach, Fla. Lamb was found unresponsive by his friends after suffering from alcohol poisoning.
Although these accidents do happen, there are only a small number of fatalities that happen each year.
“I don’t think that drinking is always a problem. I didn’t hear of any accidents over break and I know plenty of kids who went to party places. I think it does have potential to be unsafe, but drinking alcohol over spring break is too common to be changed. I think kids just have to be smart about it,” Storaci said.
Fatalities are not the only concern amongst college students during Spring Break. In 2011, 1,300 students surveyed were arrested in Panama City Beach alone. A reported 2,600 students were arrested abroad that year.
There is currently not a full report of arrests for this year, however, the Gulf Shore Police Department announced that it alone had over 100 arrests within the past two weeks.
