One in 10 binge drinkers drive after having more than four cocktails, according to a recent study. But police say drunk drivers are not a huge concern in Athens.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study shows half those binge drinkers who drive are leaving restaurants and bars.

University Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said this study doesn’t hold for Athens, and drunk driving arrests have declined over the past decade.

“I think students have really gotten the message about not drinking and driving, but I do think there’s a segment of society that are risk takers who don’t think that applies to them,” he said. “They think, ‘Oh, you’ve got to be sloppy drunk to get a DUI,’ but really, that’s not the standard.”

Williamson also said restaurants and bars shouldn’t be blamed for the decisions of their patrons.

“I really think a lot of bars now are taking a responsibility to cut people off when they’re impaired, but I think it can be different when they have 150 people in their establishment,” he said.

Williamson pointed out people who are above the legal limit probably didn’t have just one too many.

“It’s not super easy to get to a point where you’re at 0.10 [blood alcohol content],” he said. “You’ve got to consume a couple drinks that evening, not just one or two beers.”

As of Sunday, there have been six DUI arrests this month of University students, faculty and staff. According to Williamson, many drunk drivers around campus are easy to spot.

“We’ve had people sit at stop signs,” he said. “They’re waiting for the sign to turn green, is what they tell me.”

Williamson said those are extreme cases, but most arrests come when drivers forget to do things like turn on headlights.

“On campus, most of our accidents are below 45 miles per hour, so very serious injury or deaths don’t occur in such low speed accidents,” Williamson said.

In order to deter people from driving drunk in the first place, police set up road blocks two or three nights each semester to check for people driving illegally.

Eric Mattes, a senior from Cumming, was arrested for drunk driving at one of those road blocks earlier this year.

He said he regrets his decision, and hasn’t had anything to drink before getting behind the wheel since the arrest.

“It was my fault – kind of the stubbornness in myself saying ‘I can do anything,’” he said.

Mattes said he hadn’t felt drunk, but refused a breath test when the arresting officer requested one.

“I thought that would help my case but apparently it didn’t,” he said. “They smelled alcohol and they did field sobriety tests, which apparently I didn’t do so hot on.”

Mattes said he had the option of fighting the charge in court because field sobriety tests can often be inaccurate assessments of a person’s sobriety. However, he said he decided not to fight the charge because his license would have been suspended for the months between the arrest and his court date, and lawyer fees would have been several times the $825 fine for DUI.

Mattes said he paid the fine and spent a night in jail, but still has a four-day class, 40 hours of community service and probation for a year before the punishment is over. Still, he said the punishment isn’t that bad.

“The first time [you're arrested, it's] kind of like a warning,” he said. “The second time – just don’t do it.”