That's celebrating adulthood with oblivion.

I thought of this strange and dangerous ritual this week after reading about the death of Nancy Leidy in West Raleigh.

Brian Anthony Reid, a junior from Graham, has been charged with driving while intoxicated when he ran into Leidy with his truck.

Reid turned 21 on Wednesday. At this point, there's no indication that Reid fired a 21-shot salute for his birthday.

But the awful death does serve as a reminder of how consumption of alcohol can be tightly tied to certain celebratory moments in life.

I would have hoped that young people today would be smarter than we were back in the dark ages. Kids now grow up with DARE -- drug and alcohol prevention programs starting in grade school -- not to mention far tougher DWI laws.

I guess not.

A study soon to be published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology found that among students who drank alcohol to celebrate their 21st birthdays, 34 percent of the men and 24 percent of the women reported consuming 21 or more drinks.

The researchers estimated that more than half the men and a third of the women would have had a blood alcohol level of 0.26 or higher -- more than three times the legal driving limit.

For Craig Lloyd, executive director of N.C. Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Leidy's death this week was particularly troubling, and not just because it occurred just off Western Boulevard, the road where Lloyd's office is located.

Over the past several years, a great deal of time and energy has been spent on curbing underage drinking, trying to put an end to the parade of teens killed in alcohol-related accidents.

Schools and parents have joined in the effort to make prom, homecoming and high-school graduation alcohol-free events.

But making a dent in college drinking, particularly binge drinking, has proved more daunting.

"We're trying to let them know they're not invincible," Lloyd said. "One bad decision can haunt them for the rest of their lives."

On March 29, N.C. MADD held an awareness and fundraising walk through Centennial Campus, just blocks from the spot where Leidy was run down late Wednesday morning.

Lloyd noted that the state's first on-campus chapter of MADD, UMADD, was established at N.C. State just a few years ago.

Dave Haydysch was one of the pioneer organizers of UMADD. He left State last year.

Now 30, he remembers his own 21st birthday, before he got involved with MADD and the drinking moderation ministry Lighthouse.

Haydysch remembers hearing about friends who drank 21 shots.

"I'd be like, 'That's a great milestone. Go you!' " he said. At the time he thought it was funny; his friends were celebrating their freedom.

"Now I look back and think, what an idiot. We were lucky no one died."

Finally, a correction to Wednesday's column about the local man who won a "Man Cave" ensemble -- big-screen TV, theater seating -- from 96 Rock.

I got a bum steer on the hospital that benefited from his largess. It was the N.C. Children's Hospital at UNC-Chapel Hill.