Students walking on campus should be wary when crossing streets and walking through parking lots late at night, as driving under the influence (DUI) arrests are increasing, police said.

The number of DUI offenses on campus roadways has increased steadily for three years and appears to be rising again this year, according to Penn State Police Services.

The number of arrests for the offense doubled in 2000, increasing from 12 citations in 1999 to 24 in 2000, police said. The numbers also went up again last year, jumping to 38 citations.

Clifford Lutz, Penn State Police Services supervisor, said there are a few possible reasons for the higher number of arrests.

"We've gone through a retraining with officers on how to detect DUIs," he said.

He added that new officers have helped with the effort.

Another possible reason for the increase is the change in student drinking habits.

Lutz said the arrests are not restricted to the weekends, but instead spread throughout the week.

"People are drinking every night of the week," he said.

The offense, which is a second-degree misdemeanor, carries a minimum fine of $300, six months probation, and 30 days suspended license, on the first offense. If the citation occurs on campus and the driver is a student, the driver will also be referred to the Office of Judicial Affairs, Lutz said.

He also added that if a driver is under the age of 21, the legal alcohol limit drops to .02, as opposed to .10 if the driver is 21 or over.

Despite the rising DUI statistics, there have been no accidents on campus as a result of a drunken driver this year.

Lutz said on-campus accidents tend to be low speed and take place in parking lots, but police fear the possibility of a DUI accident.

"That's our biggest fear, that a pedestrian will be hit on campus," he said. "Almost all of the students do everything on foot, so an impaired driver could have consequences."

Lutz noted that DUI statistics, both nationally and statewide, have leveled off from the steady decrease they had seen about 10 years ago at the height of DUI targeting.

During that time, groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), as well as various highway safety acts, helped pave the way for stricter DUI laws, Lutz said.

While the groups such as MADD aimed to get more severe DUI legislation passed, the highway safety acts provided grants for law enforcement agencies to train officers for DUI targeting.

Evelyn McKee, the president of the Centre and Clinton County chapter of MADD, said they are working to lower the number of DUIs on local roadways.

"Locally, we do a lot of education," she said. "We're very active in speaking on the victim impact panel."

She said the group delivers programs on the impact of drunken driving as well as speaks to first-time DUI offenders.

While McKee said there is always room for improvement, she feels that local law enforcement is doing a good job of keeping drivers and pedestrians safe from intoxicated drivers.

"I think Centre County is pretty good ... they treat this as a serious crime," she said.