St Patrick's Day And Drunk Driving
Brian O Sutter
Traffic Accidents
You do not need to be Irish to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! Each year, the green beer and drinks are being shared all around. In fact, you can see green items and alcohol as far as the eye can see during this time of the year. However, this makes it an increasingly dangerous time to be on the road and driving. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 276 people died in drunken driving crashes over St. Patrick’s Day weekend from 2009 to 2013.In the year 2013, two out of five crash fatalities occurred during St. Patrick’s Day weekend involved drunken driving. It was between midnight and 6 a.m. during St. Patrick’s Day weekend that resulted in the most crash fatalities. 55 percent of those nightly crashes involved drunken driving. Furthermore, from 2009 to 2013, three out of four drunken driving fatalities has occurred with drivers who had a blood-alcohol levels at more than double the legal limit.
Before you go partying this St. Patrick’s Day, here are a few things you should remember:
1) Do not wait until you have been drinking alcohol to decide how to get yourself home on St. Patrick’s Day!
Even if you are not planning to drink at a party, you need to make sure you have some sort of plan in place in case you do. Call up a friend or family member that is staying sober this holiday and ask if they can give you a ride. If the party is at someone’s house, it may not be a bad idea to ask if you can just crash there for the night rather than driving home. Lastly, try to use a taxi or ride-hailing service.
2) Even if you have only had a couple of drinks, you still may be too impaired and you should not drive!
Sure you only had like a couple beers and you only feel a little buzzed. You can drive just fine right? No, you can’t! Remember, buzzed drinking is still drunken driving. As much as you may believe that you can still drive perfectly fine, it is not at all worth the risk and your judgement sure not be regarded so heavily when you have had a few drinks.
3) If you know someone is too impaired to drive, help them make other arrangements!
Friends do not let friends drive drunk anywhere. If your friend is attempting to drive while under the influence, take away the keys and help them make other arrangements to get home. If you are completely sober, offer to take them home yourself. Otherwise, try getting them a taxi or calling up a friend to give them a ride home. They may not be happy about it at the time, but their safety, much like yours, is too important to risk.
4) Think cab fare is just a little too expensive? A drunk driving ticket is even more expensive!
This is a pretty weak excuse considering that the average driving under the influence citation costs around $10,000. Unless that taxi is made of gold, it is unlike that your cab ride costs nearly that much. Not to mention that driving drunk can cost you the most vital thing of all, your very life.