How many drinks before you drive is too many? One

That’s got to be the three most horrific words imaginable in any fatal traffic accident —- alcohol was involved.

It’s tragic enough that somebody’s life ends before their time, but it all gets magnified when there was a choice. We all know that drinking and driving is a bad idea.

But the ironic thing is, most people always seem to think they can make it home without incident. It doesn’t matter if it’s Ted Kennedy at Chappaquiddick Island, Mass., or Grant County commissioner candidate Nathan Pack, people under the influence always seem to think it’s not a factor in their ability to drive a 3,000-pound bullet.

If you live long enough, you will have regrets. And the ones you regret the most are the ones where you knew better and you did it anyway.

I had a chance to follow up on one of those horrific times in the greatest tragedy in Wyoming sports history. The fact is, it could have been me. It could have been you, or anybody else that thinks driving after a couple drinks won't hurt anything.

Former University of Wyoming rodeo cowboy Clint Haskins decided to go visit his girlfriend in Fort Collins, Colo., jumping behind the wheel of his truck and taking off down Wyoming Highway 287. Haskins, who had just competed at the College National Finals Rodeo, crossed the centerline and hit a Jeep Wagoneer head-on, killing all eight people. If it could get any worse, the eight people happened to be members of the University of Wyoming cross country team.

Heck of a deal waking up in jail, asking how ya got there only to be informed you killed eight people on the highway last night. It would be very easy to sit there and say, throw him in jail and throw away the key … a lot of people did.

A few drinks isn't going to hurt anybody, but the fact is, Haskins’ blood alcohol concentration was 0.16 percent. The legal limit is 0.10, and Haskins’ 0.16 was the equivalent of a three to four drinks. Apparently a few drinks is enough to change a life or take a life or take eight lives.

Haskins pleaded guilty to eight counts of aggravated vehicular homicide. A judge sentenced him to 14 to 20 years in prison on each count, to be served at the same time.

"If I had not drove, they would be alive," Haskins replied, looking at family members of the victims at his sentencing.

Sept. 16 marks the 15th anniversary of eight Wyoming cross country runners killed in a car accident caused by a drunken driver near Laramie in 2001. The tribute every year is called Memory of the 8 and pays tribute to Morgan McLeland, Gillette; Nicholas Schabron, Laramie; Justin Lambert-Belanger, Timmons, Ontario; Kyle Johnson, Riverton; Kevin Salverson, Cheyenne; Shane Shatto, Douglas; Joshua Jones, Laramie; and Cody Brown of Hudson, Colo.

I still have the logo to the Memory of the 8 on my briefcase as a reminder.

According to a study done by the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police, even in 2010, alcohol was involved in 72 percent of nearly 19,000 arrests in the state. Three out of every four arrested were under the influence when they did their particular crime that put them behind bars, and that’s coming from a state where more people live in Seattle than the entire state of Wyoming.

Imagine what the numbers are here in Washington?

It doesn’t matter if you’re rich and famous or just some guy from the farm, it’s not even about being drunk when you drive. It’s a matter of have you been drinking before you drive?

How many is too many? One.