The nightlife in State College will be interrupted tonight by 15 cars with a sobering message.

A hearse carrying a banner that reads "DUI Kills" will accompany a group of Penn State students traveling State College roads in a mock funeral procession at 9 p.m.

"Our goal is to impact people and to make them think twice before they get in their vehicles and drive home after drinking that night," said Robert Grabowski (senior-chemical engineering), one of the students who planned the procession.

The group of five students called themselves Pause and Think, and its aim is to affect the way people think in State College, particularly about drunken driving, Grabowski said.

The procession of about 15 cars, which will hold 30 passengers interested in the cause, will begin at the bus stop on Burrowes Street, proceed onto Beaver Avenue, turn onto Hiester Street and continue down College Avenue.

"We're trying to focus on the nightlife, hoping people will be outside at the bars and things to see us," Grabowski said.

Drunken driving is a serious problem in State College that has gotten increasingly worse over the past couple of years, said Bill Mahon, Penn State spokesman.

"There's a very big drinking culture in this community," Mahon said. "It's an issue that deserves a lot of public attention. People should not be dying at the hands of drunken drivers."

Arrests of drunken drivers in State College have increased along with a growing number of downtown bars and beer distributors in the area in and around Penn State, which may contribute to the problem, Mahon said.

"If we could just stop one person from getting behind the wheel and driving drunk, that would be great," said Pause and Think member Matthew Roberts (senior-civil engineering).

The group took time to consider other methods of getting its message across. The methods included constructing a car made of beer bottles but it decided the funeral procession would be most effective of all the choices because of the high number of students who would likely see the procession downtown while out at bars, Roberts said.

"Personally, unfortunately, I've lost friends to drunken driving, and I would hate to see it happen to any student here or any family here, and any change we could bring to that would be great," he said.

Grabowski said he hopes the procession will catch people who downtown out at bars off-guard and make them think before driving a vehicle if they have been drinking, he said.

"It just gives a visual of the real thing that happens. It shows death. It shows the end result of stupidity, really," he said.