It sometimes seems that no amount of education, pleas from parents and friends or horror stories from the mass media will keep everyone from making bad decisions about driving.

A Cayuga County man was killed this week when he crashed into a utility pole in Conquest.

Police later ruled the cause of the crash to be driver intoxication and said the man's blood alcohol content was twice the legal limit. He had several prior DWI convictions and had once been sent to state prison after a DWI conviction in Auburn.

And on Wednesday, a Syracuse man was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison after his seventh DWI conviction.

His first was in 1982, when he was involved in a collision that killed a 21-year-old man. He was sentenced for a misdemeanor that time and sentenced to one year in the county jail, but the event somehow failed to become a life-changing experience most would expect it to be.

He was convicted of drunk driving several more times over the years and was sentenced to two to six years in state prison after a DWI in 1999. The judge at the time warned that he could face life in prison if he ever got into trouble again.

And it isn't just drunk driving that costs lives.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Wednesday said that drivers and passengers are three times more likely to be killed at night than during the day, and that seat-belt use is the key.

As Memorial Day weekend approaches, an annual national traffic enforcement effort aimed at reminding drivers to use their seat belts begins next week. The annual “Click it or ticket” campaign uses public service announcements, extra police patrols and checkpoints to reinforce seat-belt laws.

It's quite simple, when you think about it: Fewer drunk drivers and increased seat-belt use saves lives.

We hope people are paying attention.