Faster than a narcoleptic cab driver. More powerful than a keg of beer. Look up on that bridge … it’s a bird, it’s a plane … it’s an invincible college student!

Yeah, Marvel Comics didn’t really buy the idea either. So why do so many college students live under the delusion that they’re comic book super heroes?

No, we don’t mean they prance around in brightly colored spandex jumpsuits and capes (and if you do — hey, that’s cool, no judgment). We mean that an awful lot of us seem to be putting ourselves in potentially harmful situations, without even pausing for a millisecond to consider our own safety.

Don’t believe us? Well, incredulous Bearcats, allow us to elaborate.

Would you get into a car with someone who’s just taken a Valium and is about three minutes away from entering dreamland? Yeah, it’s probably not the best idea. Yet every weekend, dozens of students get into a cab driven by someone with a proven history of accidents and, for some students, alleged near-death experiences caused by his dozing behind the wheel.

The City of Binghamton has tried to take away his license, and students — inexplicably — actually petitioned to keep him on the road … apparently the novelty of riding with “Narcoleptic Joe” is worth the potential loss of limbs, or lives, when he starts snoozing and drifting into oncoming traffic. After all, wasn’t it worth it when you told all the kids back home how funny it was when your cabbie drove into a ditch because he fell asleep at the wheel?

Though the popularity of the dozing driver among BU students is probably our favorite example of the invincibility complex which plagues far too many college students, we can’t forget about the gentleman who thought it would be fun to play mountain climber earlier this semester on the Court Street Bridge.

In case you don’t remember, it went something like this: drunk boy thinks it would be fun to climb the mass of construction work which is currently the bridge, drunk boy falls, drunk boy ends up in pretty bad condition in the hospital. If this one isn’t an example of a super hero complex, we don’t know what is.

And just for good measure, we’ll throw in a few national examples. In 2004, a SUNY Plattsburgh student died from funneling water (yes, you read that right: WATER) while being hazed by a fraternity. And according to a 2002 study reported by The Associated Press on CNN.com, 1,400 college students die alcohol-related deaths a year — we doubt the number has gone down since then.

The point of all these Darwin Award-worthy tales: we’re not invincible! No matter how unlikely you think it may be that your silly (and often intoxicated) antics will actually end up in your family and friends bemoaning your irresponsibility at your funeral, don’t tempt the fates. Next time you’re thinking about what a great story your Evel Knievel-esque stunts will make, consider whether you’ll be alive to tell the tale.