Drunken driving often makes its way into the pages of newspapers, in front-page photos of tragic automobile accidents or the daily arrests made by local police, and every once in awhile the subject finds a place in the opinion section.

An editorial in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner last week noted the efforts of a local group that is making suggestions on how to reduce alcohol-related deaths. The editorial lists four main tactics the group says will lead Fairbanks down the right path: ignition interlock devices for convicted drunken drivers, a treatment-based court, a state alcohol tax, and harsher penalties for drunken driving (such as making a second DUI offense a felony). The editorial goes on to say that prevention, punishment and treatment are the three principles the group suggests for keeping inebriated drivers off the road.

Though these ideas will surely have a positive effect, none of them seem to be anything new. For every tax, treatment and punishment, there will always be drinkers who, when faced with making a decision with an altered consciousness, end up driving drunk.

If Fairbanks is going to prevent drunken driving, we need to look at improving our public transit system and increasing shuttle services already used by some of the more civic-minded local bars. It seems that the local, state and federal government pours plenty of money into the punishment part of the equation, by paying an already overworked police force overtime to bust more and more people driving drunk, and puts almost nothing into projects like improved public transportation that would have a more positive impact on the community, while at the same time reducing the number of drunk drivers on the roads.

If state and federal money were used to increase the hours of operation and the area of service for buses, or even to subsidize taxicabs or bar shuttles, many people could get a safe ride home, rather than a few getting a ride to jail.

The efforts of any group to combat drunken driving should be applauded. With so many friends and relatives lost in alcohol-related accidents, any improvement is welcome. But in the spirit of furthering discussion, we should take a serious look at giving alternatives to driving, not simply punishing those who drive drunk after the fact.