One of the last people you want to hear is drunk driving would probably have to be a school bus driver. However, 39-year-old Cheryl Hembree is in jail after being found on her school bus drunk. The Cocke County Sheriff in Tennessee received a phone call saying that Hembree had been seen taking a bottle into her school bus. A detective and school resource officer were sent out to investigate, and found Hembree sitting in a passenger seat on the bus. She was given a Breathalyzer test and blew a .09, making her legally drunk. Fortunately, she had not driven anywhere yet, but it is expected that she was to pick up students at a nearby school.

This isn’t the first time that Tennessee has seen substance abuse by school bus drivers. In 2008, Vicky Lynn Kwasny was found passed out in her Loudon County school bus. Unlike Hembree, she had been driving children, who reported that she had been driving erratically. She was found to have been under the influence of prescription drugs.

Even though it has been pounded into our heads for years, we cannot stress how important it is to not drive drunk or under the abuse of drugs. In 2010 there were 1,210 traffic accident related deaths among children 0-14, and 17% of them involved a driver under the influence. That same year, 10,228 people fell victim to fatal alcohol-impaired driving accidents. It’s easy to call a friend or a taxi to come pick you up if you are drunk, under the influence of drugs or otherwise unable to drive. It’s also less costly- save yourself a DUI and the cost of your life or others.