On New Year’s Eve most people tend to focus more on the various celebrations and events associated with the holiday than safety, so drunk driving doesn’t receive enough attention around this time.
According to the St.Louis Post Dispatch, New Year’s Eve brings about 71% more car crashes where alcohol is involved when compared to the average weekend night.
“I think the people should always use precautions to try to make sure that no one is driving drunk,” said one local.
Organizations like MADD and SADD provide resources for the prevention of alcohol-related crashes. There are also other businesses and even beer companies themselves that work to prevent these tragedies, especially around New Years.
There are also many ways that regular people can help prevent drunk driving and the resulting crashes on New Year’s Eve. In recent years, taxi services like Uber and Lyft have emerged to provide a safe way for someone to get home if they are intoxicated. A quick internet search brings a variety of websites that can give tips for how to reduce the risk of somebody driving drunk, ranging from letting somebody sleep at your house as opposed to getting into a car drunk to simply choosing not to serve alcoholic drinks at a party.
“I know many people have a designated driver that does not drink when they go out,” says Lee Ann Miller, “and I think that that’s a great idea”.
Though there are many car crashes that happen as a result of alcohol consumption, it is comforting to know that a lot of adults nowadays do recognize the need to be responsible on nights like New Year’s Eve.
“When I went out with friends,” says Miller, “either myself or another person who didn’t drink would designate themselves as the driver, so I always felt that even if the people I was with were drinking they were doing so responsibly.”
There are also a number of people who attempt to prevent accidents from occurring if there is a situation where somebody attempts to leave a party while intoxicated.
“I’ve been at parties where people drank too much and generally they either slept over or we made them wait enough time that it no longer was a factor”, another local resident says.
Although drunk driving is still a huge problem, especially on nights like New Year’s Eve, people are becoming more aware of the dangers and taking steps to try to prevent it.