A (Safe)Drinker's Checklist For St. Patrick's Day Partygoers
St. Patrick’s Day is often associated with the luck of the Irish, but in fact, it’s one of the deadliest days of the year on the nation’s roads. There is typically a dramatic spike in alcohol-related driving fatalities during the holiday, and “no amount of luck can save you from a drunk-driving crash,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) noted in its prevention campaign materials.
During the St. Patrick’s Day weekend in 2013, more than a third (40 percent) of all crash fatalities involved drunk drivers. The night of March 17—St. Patrick’s Day—was especially bad, the federal agency said. In the post-celebration hours between midnight and 5:59 a.m. March 18, 2013, a staggering 55 percent of crash fatalities involved drunk drivers. And the majority of drunk drivers tend to be way over that limit. From 2009 to 2013, three out of four drunk-driving fatalities occurred with drivers who were more than double the legal limit.
The agency emphasized that driving drunk has serious legal and financial consequences in addition to the loss of life or serious injury. “This St. Patrick’s Day, if you drink and drive, you are looking at jail time, the loss of your driver’s license, higher insurance rates, and dozens of other unanticipated expenses ranging from attorney fees, court costs, car or motorcycle towing and repairs, and lost wages due to time off from work.” The agency advises that the cost of a taxi or having a car towed or ticketed if left somewhere overnight pales in comparison to the average DUI costs of about $10,000.
NHTSA has provided a safety checklist that stresses the importance of sober driving and planning ahead:
- Designate a sober driver or have an alternate transportation plan before the party begins.
- If you don’t have a designated driver, you can use NHTSA’s SaferRide free app, available for Android devices on Google Play and Apple devices on the iTunes store. It allows users to call a taxi or a friend by identifying their location so they can be picked up.
- Never let friends drive drunk. Arrange a safe way for them to get home.
- Don’t ride in a vehicle with a driver who is intoxicated.
- Always buckle up. It’s still your best defense against drunk drivers.
If you are hosting a party:
- Make sure all of your guests designate their sober drivers in advance.
- Serve plenty of food and non-alcoholic beverages at the party.
- Stop serving alcohol a few hours before the end of the party and keep serving non-alcohol drinks and food.
- Take the keys away from anyone who is thinking of driving after drinking and get them a cab ride home.
- Remember, you can be held liable and prosecuted if someone you served alcohol to ends up in a drunk-driving crash.
- If an underage person drinks and drives, parents may be held liable for any damage, injury or death caused by the underage driver.
- Parents or other adults who provide alcohol to, or host a party where alcohol is available to, those under age 21 could face jail time.
Walking impaired can also be dangerous. In 2013, 34 percent of the pedestrians involved in fatal crashes had blood alcohol concentrations at or above the legal limit for drivers.
For more information about federal safe driving initiatives, click here.
To read about the SaferRide app, click here.
