It’s best to avoid any alcohol before you plan to get behind the wheel, and choosing a designated driver or a different mode of transportation, such as a cab takes drinking and driving off the table. Eliminating the risk of drinking and driving is better than playing the odds on the road with police, and Randy Travis’s arrest for drinking and driving last week helps illustrate that point even though it occurred in Texas rather than Pennsylvania.

Last Tuesday, country music star Randy Travis was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, and he was also charged with a felony for threatening a police officer after he allegedly threatened to fatally shoot highway patrol officers who responded to the scene.

Outside of Tioga, Texas, Travis was driving his black 1998 Pontiac Trans Am on a local two-lane highway last Tuesday night when he lost control of the vehicle and struck multiple barricades in a construction zone. The 53-year-old singer was found lying in the roadway by state troopers after a passerby spotted Travis and reported the accident.

Travis allegedly refused to take a blood and breath test and a judge’s order eventually forced him to provide a blood specimen at a nearby hospital. The country singer was taken to jail after his hospital visit, and he was released from jail after an acquaintance posted his bail of $21,500 the next morning.

While in custody Travis allegedly threatened “to shoot and kill the troopers working the case.” The threat turned into a felony charge and helps show why it’s important to be polite even while under arrest.

This is Travis’s second arrest involving drinking since February. At that time, Travis was arrested for public intoxication for sitting in his parked car outside of a church with an open bottle of wine.

Source: CNN, “Country Singer Randy Travis Arrested, Accused of DWI,” Michael Martinez and David Ariosto, August 9, 2012